

V 



MR. EIGELOW'S ODATION. 




3^^ 



\«533 



) JcJ-mTo-m ■ / 



ORATION 

DELIVERED EEFOKE THE 

MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES 

OF THE 

CITY OF BOSTON, 

JULY 4, 1853. 
BY 

TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 
« 

TOGETIILIl WITH THE 

SPEECHES AT THE DINNER IN FANEUIL HALL, 
ON THAT OCCASION. 



BOSTON: 
185 3. 

J. H. EASTBURN, CITY PRINTER, 




Exchange 

Jill la i9oy 



.<S^ 






CITY OF BOSTON, 



In the Board of Matob and Aldermen, 

July 6, 1853. 

Voted, That the thanks of the City Council be presented to Timothy 
BiGELOw, Esquire, for the very patriotic and interesting Oration delivered 
by him before the Municipal Authorities of Boston, on the recent celebration 
of the Seventy seventh Anniversary of the Declaration of American Indepen- 
dence; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of said oration for publi- 
cation. 

Passed unanimously. Sent down for concurrence. 

BENJAMIN SEAVER, Mayor. 



Concurred unanimously. 



In Common Council, July 7, 1853. 
HENEY J. GARDNER, President. 



A true copy. 

Attest: S. F. McCleary, Jr., City Clerk. 



INTEODUCTION. 



There are various reasons why the celebration of the 
Fourth of Julj is a matter of pecuhar interest to every citizen 
of Boston. This place was particularly marked, during the 
scenes preceding the American Revolution, by the love of lib- 
erty herein manifested, and the spirit of resistance never wa- 
vered during all the events of our great struggle. No little 
credit belongs to Boston for hastening forward the contest with 
the Mother Country, and praise is also due to her for having 
remained true to the cause of American Liberty, till it was con- 
firmed by the Treaty of Peace in 1783. 

In consequence of the active interest which the men of Boston 
took in the scenes of the Revolution, they signalized many mem- 
orable events with special honor and attention. The Massacre 
of March 5, 1770, was the chief act of ciuelty which spoke to 
their hearts, and this was commemorated by orations and pro- 
cessions for thirteen successive years. That anniversary yielded 
at length to the Fourth of July, as an era of greater national 
importance ; and from the year 1783, this day has been uninter- 
ruptedly celebrated by the authorities of Boston. The same can 
be said of no other town or city in the land. But it is unne- 
cessary, to dwell further upon a matter which has been elo- 
quently and instructively set forth by Hon. B. F. Hallett, as 
will be seen on perusing his speech at the Faneuil Hall dinner. 
It was thought well, however, to state this fact prominently, in 



6 

connection •with the fullest publication of a Boston Fourth of 
Julj celebration that has ever appeared. The manner in which 
the anniversary is yet commemorated in our midst, shows that 
the labors and virtues of our fathers are still prized and re- 
membered. 

One fact pertaining to the last celebration is worthy of partic- 
ular attention ; we mean the full and creditable display of the 
soldiery* on that occasion. No anniversary recorded in Ameri- 
can annals, ought to speak so eloquently to the patriotism and 
valor of our countrymen as the Fourth of July ; and at no other 
time could our militia more properly testify, by full and well- 
trained ranks, their willingness to defend the honor of the nation, 
in every hour of darkness and peril. For a long period suc- 
ceeding the Revolution, this was considered as the great parade- 
day of the year for the citizen soldiery of the land ; but of late 
years, at least in Boston, a marked difference has been notic- 
ed in this respect. A renewed interest has, however, recently 
been manifested in Boston, and it is worthy of special mention 
and praise. 

We sincerely trust that the great anniversary of American 
;. Freedom will always be duly honored by the citizens of Boston. 

* The escort was performed the present year, in a highly acceptable manner, 
by the Artillery Regiment, under command of Colonel Robert Cowdin. A 
list of the companies will be found on a later page. 



ORATIO^\ 



ORATION. 



Fellow Citizens : 

This is the " Sabbath day of Freedom." We are once 
more assembled to reperuse the story of the past, and 
draw therefrom its lessons of counsel and experience. 
With willing footsteps we repair in thought to the 
temple of American Liberty. We gaze once more 
upon the pictured memorials of the patriots and heroes 
that adorn its walls. We read anew the great teach- 
ings of wisdom and virtue which our fathers have 
inscribed upon imperishable tablets. We hear again 
the organ notes echoing among the arches and swell- 
ing with their olden theme. We kindle afresh up- 
on the grand altar the flame of liberty which has 
burned for successive generations, and render hom- 
age to the worth and patriotism of those who reared 
for us the beautiful structure wherein we gather, and 
consecrated the service which we love to solemnize. 

For us, as citizens of Boston, this anniversary is 
invested with peculiar memories and interest. We live 



10 



amid the most sacred associations connected with the 
commencement of the Revolution ; and they all come 
forward now, bidding us to do honor to the occasion. 
Here were the earliest defiant murmurs uttered against 
the usurpations of the mother country ; and here was 
Independence virtually proclaimed long before it was 
promulgated at Philadelphia, Here was heard the 
voice of Otis thundering against the first act of British 
tyranny, — a voice which was soon echoed back from 
Virginia when the eloquence of Henry was aroused 
against the edicts of the English kmg. Through our 
streets passed the funeral pageant of young Snyder, 
"the first martyr to the cause." Six schoolmates 
bore the pall ; while five hundred children and fifteen 
hundred citizens walked in the mournful procession, as 
it moved from the Liberty Tree to the grave. A few 
days pass, — and the bells ring out a new alarm. The 
whole town is alive : Men rush to the scene of danger ; 
and then are witnessed on State street the prostrate 
bodies of the victims of the " Boston Massacre." 
Another shadow comes over the picture. The motto 
" Carthago est delenda," goes forth against the patriot 
^town. An imperious edict, intended to destroy its pros- 
perity, is put in force, and all business is at an end. 
Famine and destitution enter the houses of its citizens ; 
yet the spirit of the people remains undaunted. 
Listen ! The sound of martial footsteps is heard. 
Foreign mercenaries are despatched to overawe the 
inhabitants. But, one feeling of indignation greets 
their arrival. The artizans of Boston refuse to labor 



11 



on the barracks for the soldiers, at a time when want 
sits by their own firesides. The women of Boston 
reject every luxury to which they were accustomed. 
They would appear at no ball or festive gathering 
where British officers were present. They could not 
smile when America was in tears. Hostile hands 
might cut down the Liberty Tree and use the wood for 
fuel, but they could not quench the flame of freedom 
blazing in the midst. The houses of the inhabitants 
might be rifled ; the sanctuaries where they and their 
fathers had worshipped might be desecrated ; their 
loved birth-place and habitation might be given to the 
flames ; — still, they would not falter. The past had 
deposited a mighty trust in their hands which they 
were determined to defend and preserve at every sacri- 
fice and peril. 

The very walls of this building are eloquent with 
the theme of the Revolution. Faneuil Hall is our 
possession ; and Dorchester Heights are included 
within our borders. In our neighborhood the great 
tragedies of Lexington and Concord were enacted; 
and on yonder heights at Charlestown it was written 
in words of blood, how brave and how terrible are free- 
men when contending for liberty and home. 

Boston went into the revolutionary conflict as the 
foremost champion of America. On her devolved the 
lofty task of commencing the war of Independence ; 
and the manner in which she met the onset was to 
facilitate or retard the avatar of Liberty. If her sons 
should prove faint or fearful ; if overawed and dismayed 



12 



by the threats and tyrannical acts hurled agahist her, 
they had turned their back upon the field as too weak 
to contend with the wealth and power of England, then 
might the struggle have been postponed to a later day, 
or transmitted to g,nother generation. But never once 
did the glorious lines waver. Never once were their 
banners trailed in the dust. Justice was to them more 
precious than comfort, liberty more desirable than life. 
They stood in the Thermopylce-pass of the Revolution, 
and contended with a courage worthy of ancient 
Sparta. The shock of foreign foes did not daunt 
them. Treachery did not betray their secrets ; nor fear 
thin their ranks. They fought worthy of their high 
lineage ; and always seemed to know that the spot 
which they occupied, was the key to the liberties of 
America and the world. 

But to-day we forget that we are Bostonians in 
remembering that we are Americans. This occasion 
commemorates the act that called our country into the 
forum of nations, and at the same time sprinkled her 
brows with the waters of a new life. The conse- 
quences of that deed have, in a short period, resulted in 
bringing her forward to a position in prosperity second 
to that of no other people on the globe. It is shown 
in the mighty development of her resources and ex- 
pansion of her power ; and while other nations have 
disputed the right of succession to a throne or the 
boundary of some petty principality, our country has 
vindicated the rights of the people, and taken a conti- 
nent in her grasp. She now stands forth arrayed with 



13 



all the attributes of true greatness. Her bravery and 
skill in battle are unquestioned. The varied products 
which nature pours into the lap of most favored states, 
are hers. A strength invincible, a generally diffused 
intelligence before unknown, a peace unbroken and 
unmenaced, combine to aggrandize her power and 
swell the measure of her fame. America builds no 
pyramids to entomb her rulers ; but she removes the 
very pyramids of nature when they impede her march. 
Her arches of triumph are the bridges and aqueducts 
which span her flowing rivers ; and her plumes of vic- 
tory are the steam feathers of her flying engines, speed- 
ing on to more glorious conquests than were ever her- 
alded by the white crest of Henry of Navarre. She 
constructs no whispering galleries to bear to the ear of 
tyranny the groans of despairing victims ; but she bids 
the lightnings flash glad messages from the lakes to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and proclaim the freedom and happi- 
ness of millions. Her fortresses are the virtues of the 
people, and her defences are established by Liberty and 
Law. Her avenues are roads more imposing than were 
ever the Appian or Flaminian highways: and along 
them sweep cars of triumph laden with richer products 
than once borne by Consul or Emperor to republican 
or imperial Rome. Instead of palaces America erects 
hospitals; and in place of castle turrets' within her 
borders, are seen the Lyceum and the school house. 
When it is thought she has reached the outermost 
point of progress, and is erecting there the boundaries 
of her dominion, she has moved yet farther westward 



14 



and brings a new daughter into the confederacy. 
Wherever upon this continent there is a solitude 
before untrodden by man, wherever there is a fertile 
valley or a rolling river previously unknown or un- 
heard of, wherever there is a secret mine whose wealth 
has lain undeveloped since the birth of time, thither 
she bends her steps and establishes her sway. And 
wherever her foot-prints are planted, there temples of 
worship arise to invite the blessings of Heaven upon 
the land. 

The light of this anniversary flashes back upon the 
years that have intervened since the Declaration of 
Independence, and exhibits the past in contrast with 
the present. It shows us cities where once were soli- 
tudes, and towns and villages where only the smoke 
from the hut or wigwam was formerly seen. Rivers 
which then flowed through the undisturbed wilderness 
of nature, bearing nothing upon their waters but the 
Indian canoe, or gliding through banks only here and 
there occupied by the rude block houses of an advanc- 
ing civilization, now float unnumbered vessels laden 
with wealth, and sweep by a happy and prosperous 
population which line their borders. The Thirteen 
Colonies which then skirted the Atlantic coast, have 
risen to a new importance and acquired unexampled 
riches; at the same time they have been joined by 
eighteen younger sisters, which form together a con- 
federacy great and invincible. They are all linked by 
common memories, common interests, common laws, 
and look forward to a common destiny. The stars in 



15 



our country's constellation are all separate ; yet their 
union is so perfect, that when seen from a distant point 
of observation they appear condensed, shedding a com- 
mon flood of giory. As Astronomy reveals to us that 
the shining star-dust which decks the bosom of night, 
is composed of distinct orbs recognizing the same gen- 
eral law; but so close is their union, that all their myr- 
iad rays are blended into a beautiful cloud of gold. 

Recalling then, as we do with pleasure, the results 
that have flowed from the memorable event which we 
this day commemorate, we discard all local differences 
and sectional pride, and remember only that we are 
Americans. We recollect that our brothers are by the 
Colorado, the Sacramento and the Oregon, and that 
they are laying the foundations of empire on the coast 
of the Pacific. The voyager pursuing the track of the 
Missouri, the settler who has planted his solitary log- 
hut on some western prairie, belong to the same great 
country as ourselves. He that is now stemming the 
floods of the Mississippi, he who toils and traffics by 
the Gulf of Mexico, as well as he who delves in the 
copper mines of Lake Superior, are all members of 
one common family, and alike hail this day as the glo- 
rious epoch in the history of man that called into life 
and beauty the empire of the free. 

The event which we this day celebrate, is the most 
illustrious recorded in modern annals. It divides a peri- 
od of light from darkness, and signalizes the hour when 
true liberty and the rights of man were first revealed 
to the world. On the Fourth of July, 1776, it was 



16 



published abroad on the free winds of Heaven, that 
man is his own earthly master ; that he has certain 
natural immunities and privileges which no tyrant can 
take from him ; and that all power emanates solely 
from the people to whom every ruler is responsible. It 
was then proclaimed that real national elevation and 
national fame spring only from the intelligence and 
virtue of the inhabitants ; and that no government can 
be deemed strong or wise which tramples on the rights 
of the many, and the common property of all. On this 
day. Liberty, the fairest daughter of time, who had long 
been driven from her ancient temples in Greece and 
E-ome, on whom the marble halls of Venice and Genoa, 
of Florence and Milan had for centuries been closed, 
— who had since wandered a friendless exile, except 
when she made her home in the mountains of Switzer- 
land, — came back again to earth, more beautiful than of 
old, and prepared to scatter new blessings on the race. 
But her return was accompanied with suiFering and 
tears. Notwithstanding the coldness and cruelty which 
forced our fathers from the shores of Britain, they and 
their descendants still looked towards England with 
feelings of reverence and love. They took a pride in 
the poets and philosophers, the wits and statesmen 
that shed lustre on the name of England. Bacon and 
Milton, Newton and Locke, Shakspeare and Dryden 
were their illustrious kindred, who had never been 
driven from the parental home. The bosoms of our 
ancestors swelled with generous emotions at the memo- 
ry of Runnymede; and they delighted to trace back 



17 



the various steps whereby their liberties and rights had 
been matured. They hailed with rapture the triumphs 
of the British arms in the old world, dwelling with 
common pride on the victories of Naseby, Blenheim 
and Dettingen, as well as the triumphs of Louisburg 
and Quebec. Every thing that added to the glory of 
the Mother Country was an object of fresh exultation; 
and their desire was to extend the name and power of 
England in the Western world, to subdue a continent 
to her dominion, and gather fresh harvests of wealth 
and renown to enrich the land of their lineage. 

Never was this feeling stronger than at the close of 
the Seven Years' War ; and never did England appear 
more invincible than at that period. She had gained 
great military honors in the struggle, and had planted 
her victorious ensigns on two distant continents. In 
India she was building a mighty empire on the crumb- 
ling fragments of oriental despotisms ; and the victo- 
ries of Plassy and Wandewash, with the capture of 
Pondicherry, had given her supremacy in the ruined 
halls of Delhi. In Europe, her ally, the Prussian mon- 
arch, had fought successfully against the colossal com- 
bination formed against him ; and the battles at 
Prague, Eossbach and Leuthen proved the valor and 
genius of the great Frederick. In America, she had 
wrested from France all her colonial possessions : Fort 
Du Quesne and Fort William Henry, Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point, had all fallen beneath her arms ; while 
the final libation of blood, poured out upon the plains 
of Abraham, had forever extinguished the transatlatic 



18 



power and influence of Louis. In this war the heart 
of America and the heart of England beat together. 
Both gloried in the same triumphs ; both lamented the 
same losses. Side by side, the banners of Britain and 
the Colonies had been borne to the field of strife. The 
soldiers of both countries had slept by the same camp 
fires, had pursued the same marches, had submitted to 
the same privations. There was no stigma on the 
name of England which was not felt in America, and 
no wrong done to the colonies which did not awaken 
indignation in the heart of the Mother Country. Thus 
was a strict bond of harmony established between the 
two countries ; and such was their mutual inheritance 
of glory, so strong were the ties and associations that 
connected them together, it would seem that nothing 
could ever sunder their union. 

These then were the feelings which only thirteen 
years previously to the Declaration of Independence, 
were generally cherished by our fathers. But all the 
voices and the memories of the past had to be forgot- 
ten. A new spirit had fallen upon the councils of the 
British King. The holy ties of kindred and blood 
were about to be severed ; for, folly had usurped the 
place of wisdom, and tyranny sought to trample on 
freedom. In breaking their connection with England, 
our ancestors not only cut as it were their heart strings, 
but exposed themselves, if unsuccessful, to the doom 
and infamy of traitors. When the gauntlet was once 
thrown down, there could be for them but one alterna- 
tive — either freedom or death. Notwithstanding every 



19 



peril and pain, they shrunk not from the contest. 
The liberties which were cradled at Plymouth and 
Jamestown, and which a century and a half had nur- 
tured and strengthened, belonged to no monarch and 
could be surrendered to no minister. Every sacrifice 
was to be cheerfully borne in order to preserve and 
defend them. Our fathers were always free. They 
had studied in the school of experience the rights and 
duties of citizens ; and so soon as one of their privi- 
leges was invaded, they rose in its defence and sprang 
up at once into national life. The country came forth 
fresh and vigorous, as when spring bursts from the em- 
brace of winter, scattering foliage on hill-side and 
plain, and prophecying, wdth the garlands it hangs on 
orchard and grove, the golden fruits of autumn. 

The events of the Revolution have been too often 
told to need present recital. But as we turn the pages 
of history, every incident respecting the struggle, from 
the time when the lantern was first hung out from the 
tower of the old North Church till the last watch-fires 
were extinguished at Newburgh, is calculated to fill the 
mind with admiration and pride. England, the mother, 
had become a tyrant. Allegiance to her was thence- 
forth forfeited. From every hamlet and cottage pour 
forth the soldiers of liberty, eager for the combat. 
The smith leaves his forge, and the farmer forsakes "his 
plough; for, the great battle of humanity has com- 
menced, and the strongest arms are needed in the strife. 
Those who had fought in the French and Indian wars, 
and whose boast then was that they werl Englishmen, 



20 



now burn to wipe away the name in blood. The 
thirty thousand of their brethren who had fallen in 
fields of slaughter, all reminded them of their duty. 
Their exiled fathers who had borne the sufferings of 
a wilderness life, and who had died far from their na- 
tive homes, because a despotic prince had driven them 
away, were remembered in that momentous hour. 
Every village given to the flames, every cruel death 
and every sad captivity, were the pledges which the 
past had given to freedom ; and they were not forgotten 
then. Every sigh and tear, every cry and sorrow were 
turned into sacred voices, rousing an injured people to 
arms. Young men, who were familiar with the steps 
of pilgrimage and pain which had been taken in their 
behalf, determined to prove their descent by defending 
principles which patriots had suffered and died for. 
Eair maidens presented banners whose silken folds 
their hands had wrought, and bade those who bore 
them to remember their sisters and loved ones at home. 
Mothers arrayed their dearest offspring for the field. 
They tied the scarf, and clasped the belt, and told their 
sons to recollect in the hour of battle the girdle of af- 
fection that bound them. Old men poured forth their 
blessings on the warriors, and aged women put up 
prayers for their deliverance ; and throughout the land 
there breathed a fervent aspiration that " God would 
defend the right." Some might come back with hon- 



ors, and proud gratulations would welcome their re- 
turn. Some would come maimed and suffering, but the 
wounds of baMe would attest their fidelity and bravery. 



21 



Some would never see home again. On distant fields 
they would lay down their lives for their country, and 
the flowers of spring might mantle the spot where they 
slept. Suffering was before them all. The rigors of 
winter, the pangs of hunger, the hardships of a camp, 
all were destined to test their devotedness and faith. 
But, in every breast there glowed but one feeling — a 
generous love of country. An universal spirit of indig- 
nation swelled at the cruelty of England, and every 
patriot was determined to make any sacrifice to vindi- 
cate his country's liberty and rights. 

In contemplating the character and history of our 
revolutionary struggle, we are compelled to admire the 
moral greatness and heroism manifested by our fathers 
in undertaking so momentous a contest. They who 
judged of events and the probable consequences of the 
combat from examples familiar to the mind of Europe, 
could have little question as to the result of the im- 
pending conflict. The opinion was general that the 
colonists would be ignominiously defeated, and that 
England must be speedily triumphant. For, Britain 
came to the strife with mighty armies and ample 
treasures. Rich rewards and lofty honors were prom- 
ised to the skilful and brave. Her warriors marched 
to battle under the inspiring memories of Blenheim, 
Eamilies and Minden. Against this powerful nation 
was arrayed the young forest country which aspired to 
be free. She had no armies but such as patriotism 
might call to the field. Her sons, if the fortunes 
of war were on their side, would simply bear home the 



22 



consciousness of having discharged their duty. If 
adverse issues were theirs, the shameful fate of rebels 
was in store for them. They had no mighty arma- 
ments ; no magazines bristling with the implements of 
war ; no fortresses frowning upon the foe. Still theirs 
was a high and holy calling, and the magnitude of the 
mission did not daunt them. Voices that came from a 
solemn past, bade them recollect the principles which 
martyrs had died for. Hopes, that rose like golden 
sunlight above the mountains of the future, cheered 
them on. They felt that they were contending for jus- 
tice, freedom and home. They knew that their ban- 
ners were sanctified by the blessings of the good and 
brave ; and this consciousness nerved their arms with 
a giant's vigor. Never was a prouder trust assigned to 
a people; never was lofty mission executed with 
greater fortitude and daring. For, to them it was 
appointed to call a nation into being, to dedicate a con- 
tinent to the cause of freedom, to invade the pavilions 
which for centuries had curtained the privileges of mon- 
archs, and speak kindly to a prostrate world. 

While therefore on this day we would pay all possi- 
ble honor to the men of the Revolution, whose valor 
and patriotism achieved our political redemption, we 
should do injustice to ourselves and others were we to 
forget the great events that had previously occurred, 
and which imparted increased interest to the struggle. 
The American Declaration of Independence was the 
rich fruit of fifty centuries ripened by sunshine and 
storm. Whatever of good had been done or spoken by 



23 



man, every pious tliouglit and patriot act which history 
or tradition had preserved, — the musings of the philos- 
opher and the minstrelsy of the poet, were all brought 
forth, as fitting offerings, to add new lustre to the 
event. The inspiration uttered in Galilee, the death of 
Socrates, the teachings of Seneca and Plato, the medi- 
tations of Aristotle and Ptolemy, of Bacon and Des- 
cartes, of Hampden and Sidney, the sufferings of mar- 
tyrs and the deeds of heroes — all formed part of the 
memorials that were represented by that glorious act. 
It was a focus, gathering rays from many a distant 
point and remote era, and flashing back, like a blazing 
diamond, the light and brilliancy of ages. 

"Why was America a region so long unknown to the 
Old World "? Why was she kept a secret hidden from 
man till the discovery of Columbus'? Why, while 
other nations were involved in turmoil and strife, 
whilst cities were built and overthrown, whilst empires 
flourished and decayed, whilst war was driving its 
bloody car over the plains of Europe and Asia, — why 
was this vast continent allowed to remain the habita- 
tion of the savage, or the home, at best, of an imper- 
fect civilization 1 Our answer is, because it was reserv- 
ed by Providence to be the field where the last great 
experiment of human government should be perfected ; 
and when philosophy and political science had been 
matured by the thoughts and experience of ages, and 
a high point of Christian civilization had been reached, 
that man might here enter upon a new heritage, and 
enjoy rights never before possessed. Because, when the 



24 



fall of empires had taught the true strength of nations, 
when the horrors of war had shown the blessings of 
peace, when the tyranny of despots had aroused the 
spirit and developed the might of the people. Liberty 
might here come forward and erect a pacific and endur- 
ing republic, which should not only secure freedom to 
its own citizens, but eventually give it back to the 
inhabitants of the elder continents. 

It was impossible for Liberty to gain lasting 
triumphs or secure a permanent influence in Europe. 
Enough had been accomplished in Greece and Rome 
to demonstrate that free institutions are best adapted 
for developing both literary genius and national re- 
nown ; yet, the ruins of the Parthenon and the Capitol 
proved to the old world that they were then premature. 
The Italian States which shot like meteors across the 
night of Europe, illustrated, for a brief period, the wis- 
dom of liberal laws. The halls of Florence and Genoa, 
of Venice and Pisa, showed how rapidly republics may 
advance to opulence and wealth. The songs of Pe- 
trarch, the muse of Dante, the paintings of Raphael 
and Titian, and the genius of Angelo, all announced 
the beauty and expansion which liberty lends to the 
human mind. But the anarchy which those States 
soon experienced, and the readiness with which they 
submitted to a despotic rule, attested that the secret 
of a free government was a problem yet unsolved. 
Under the influence of liberal institutions the Dutch 
States ascended rapidly the steps to national elevation. 
Their cities and towns were the homes of happiness 



25 



and prosperity ; but, many years previous to the era of 
our Revolution, the dignity of the Stadthokler had 
become hereditary, and the glory of Van Tromp, De 
Euyter and De Witt was preserved in the records of 
history or by the paintings of Rubens and Rembrandt. 
At one time it seemed that England would teach a new 
political science to the world ; but the loud welcomes 
which greeted the return of Charles II destroyed this 
rising hope. Thus was Liberty made an outcast from 
Europe. She might light her solitary watch-fires on 
the side of the Alps. She might kindle \isions of 
coming glory before the eyes of the dying patriot. She 
might awaken a hectic hope in the soul of the dreamy 
politician. But this was all. Thrones were girt with 
standing armies which no popular power could van- 
quish. The wealth of nations was in the hands of 
monarchs ; whilst palace walls were seen everywhere 
frowning on the hope of the struggling serf. It was 
left to the poor peasant still to labor in the same house 
of bondage in which his fathers had toiled ; to bear the 
same bitter servitude, to shed the same scalding tears, 
and to look forward towards a future wearing the same 
funereal gloom as the clouded past. 

Besides the ill success of republics anterior to our 
Revolution, there was another obstacle to the progress 
of liberty in the Old World, arising from the new 
and powerful despotism created in Russia. Founded 
as that government is, on the utter abnegation of all 
popular rights, it is not to be presumed that it would 
allow the existence of a nation near its own territories 

4 



26 



asserting liberal institutions. A recent example has 
proved the manner in which the Czar is disposed to 
treat a country struggling to be free ; and the relent- 
less cruelty exhibited towards Hungary would, had 
America never arisen, have fallen to the lot of every 
people, from Cape Finisterre to the Black Sea, who 
had thought to question the divine right of emperors 
and kings. The temper of despotic powers towards 
the spirit of freedom, was plainly evinced in the dis- 
memberment of Poland; — the first act in that dismal 
tragedy having been consummated only four years be- 
fore the Declaration of Independence. It threw to 
the winds the last hope of expiring liberty in Europe. 
That act of imperial despotism has not yet been expi- 
ated ; nor wall it be till the Hungarian and the Ger- 
man, lighting their torches from the altar of American 
Liberty, shall wrest from Russia, Austria and Prussia 
their inalienable rights, and give back to prostrate Po- 
land the priceless boon of freedom. 

But, while Europe was showing that republican forms 
of government could have no home upon its soil, 
America was nursing the principle of pure liberty, and 
preparing to display it on a grander, broader scale 
than ever before witnessed. The lesson which the Old 
World could not teach, was to be given by the New. 
When night seemed darkest, a bright morning was at 
hand. America was working out the great problem 
of self-government, which was eventually to reform 
the civil polity of mankind. Providentially set apart 
to execute a colossal task, she was invested with every 



27 



attribute requisite to make the success splendid and 
sure. In our own history we might seem to read again 
the story of Joseph and his brethren. The young 
exile-nation acquires vast wealth, and gains favor even 
with princes. To it is given a knowledge in expound- 
ing the wants of the people, such as has never pre- 
viously been reached. In periods of need the elder 
countries come to it, not only to procure corn to avert 
famine from their borders, but to become skilled in a 
political wisdom that can alone save them from weak- 
ness and decay. 

The era of the discovery of America was one of re- 
markable interest. Europe was emerging from the 
darkness of the middle ages, and a new and brighter 
civilization was rising upon the wprld. The classic 
treasures of Greece and Eome were now brought forth 
from monasteries and cloisters. The student hung 
with new delight upon the wisdom of an earlier day. 
The voice of Socrates was heard again. Demosthenes 
and Tully gained fresh triumphs of eloquence. The 
teachings of Plato and Seneca kindled thought. The 
examples of Aristides and Lycurgus, of Brutus and Cato, 
awakened the admiration of patriotism and virtue ; 
while the story of the Fall of Troy and the wanderings 
of ^neas, were again chanted to a listening world. 
Thanks to the inventive genius of Guttenburg and 
Faust, the thoughts of one became the property of 
many ; for, the printing press had begun to scatter its 
sibylline leaves abroad. New minstrels took up the 
harp : New philosoj)hers entered the silent groves of 



28 



the academy. Mariners went forth upon untried seas ; 
for, since the discovery of the compass, no danger was 
to them too formidable, no ocean too broad. Various 
arts which minister to the comfort and well being of 
man, were brought to light, and he was made nobler 
and better by the multiplying discoveries of science. 
Such was the glorious morning when America was 
given to the race ; such the period when the daring 
genius of Columbus brought forth the lost Atlantis 
from her sea-chambers, wearing her glittermg vest- 
ments, and adorned with corals and pearls. 

But, whence was the life to proceed, that was to 
people these solitudes 1 Who were to frame its laws, 
found its institutions, and erect its seminaries and tem- 
ples 1 The best nien of England's best age were com- 
missioned to the work. They embodied in an ample 
measure, the spirit of the times in which they lived. 
Their highest earthly ambition was to carry the teach- 
ings of the Bible to their new abodes, and dedicate 
themselves and their children to the pure worship of 
Almighty God. They laid the foundations of their 
civil structure with fasting and prayers. They brought 
with them whatever was precious in sacred or heathen 
lore. They had learned experience by bearing the 
burdens and submitting to the harsh trials of life ; and 
they combined all the qualities and endowments requi- 
site to become the pioneers of a new dispensation, the 
heralds of a lofty political faith. 

Yet, great and good as our fathers were, it needed 
time to ripen their settlements for empire. They had 



29 



to gain longer in the school of experience the knowl- 
edge necessary for self-government. They had to learn 
also, in their wilderness state, the military skill and 
prowess indispensable for establishing national secu- 
rity and achieving national fame. They were obliged 
to undergo additional hardships and toils, in order 
to bear patiently the stern trials which the future 
might bring ; so that when the great struggle should 
come, and the tornado burst upon them, they could 
be able to pass through the ordeal successfully, and 
stand forth with honor. In their civic polity each 
town was a little republic, each colony was a state ; 
and having common interests and common aims, it was 
the union of all which made a nation that was uncon- 
querable. A probation of forty years was allotted to 
the Israelites, in order to divest them of the heathen 
prejudices and superstitions they had acquired in 
Egypt, to train them from a state of vassalage to be- 
come a free people, and enable them to fulfil the plans 
of Providence in the land of promise. In like manner 
was a century and a half required in our country's 
history, to eradicate the monarchical prepossessions 
brought from the Old "World, to unfold quietly the 
beautiful germs of liberty, to give the colonists courage 
and strength to perform the most signal service for 
man, and carry out triumphantly the designs and de- 
crees of God. 

The Seven Years' War, so far as it affected the 
colonies, was eminently beneficial. The French, ante- 
cedently, had established a chain of fortresses from 



30 



New Orleans to the Lakes ; and the hope had been in- 
dulged of subduing completely the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi,— the garden of America, — to the rule of Louis. 
Besides, it was apprehended that when triumphant in 
the West, the French might march eastward to the 
Atlantic, and at length subjugate the entire continent. 
So long as their ascendency continued, it might be diffi- 
cult for our fathers to maintain their independence if 
won ; for, if freed from England, they might have be- 
come tributary to a power scarcely less formidable than 
the one which they repudiated. But, the issues of that 
war forever annihilated the French dominion in Amer- 
ica ; and by the Peace of Paris in 1763, it resigned the 
possessions for which the kingdom had wasted so much 
treasure and blood. At this time the colonists were 
wise, warlike and enterprising; instructed in their 
rights, and determined to defend them at every sacrifice. 
The war had not only made the people heroic, but it 
raised up generals to lead them to the field when the 
great contest should commence. It gave them Put- 
nam, Prescott, Stark, Gridley, and other command- 
ers of renown. Whilst the hardships of the wilder- 
ness, the fierce contests with the savage foe, and the 
coolness and fortitude nurtured amid the perils of a 
border war, produced the towering and commanding 
genius of Washington. 

We reach a point, then, when America is rix3e for 
action. All foreign enemies have been overcome, and 
with wisdom, courage and prudence the colonists are 
prepared for any emergency. The ends of Providence 



81 



have been answered. The trials and dangers that be- 
set the infancy of the nation, are passed. Her sons are 
valiant in battle ; and when the hour shall call, they 
will prove themselves sagacious in counsel, — thus an- 
swering in a collective sense to the Grecian ideal of 
Minerva, who Avas not only brave in battle but worthy 
to have temples of wisdom erected in her honor. The 
position of France was such, so humiliated did she feel 
from her losses in the new world, that it was not im- 
probable she would aid the colonies in any future con- 
test with their mother land. Every thing was now 
matured for the fulfilment of the providential plan. 
The time, the scene, the men, all were prepared for its 
development ; and on the determination of the British 
crown to levy a tax upon the colonists, the torch was 
applied to the fuel which set the continent in a blaze. 
Under another sovereign, years might have elapsed be- 
fore the connexion between the two countries had been 
severed; but the blindness and obstinacy of George 
III. brought it to pass at the earliest moment the 
colonists were capable of maintaining their privileges. 
At this juncture it was that the various torrents, de- 
scending from their lofty mountain sources, were all 
united together to form a cataract which was to shake 
not America only, but the globe. 

We are called upon therefore, not merely by the voice 
of patriotism that speaks to us this day, but by the re- 
sponsibilities of the mission assigned by Providence to 
America, to carry forward the principles and blessings 
of freedom to nations now benighted and oppressed. It 



32 



is our high and holy duty to protect and perpetu- 
ate the rights which have been transmitted to us ; and so 
to defend the character and integrity of the institutions 
we enjoy, as to extend eventually to others the privi- 
leges which are ours. Not for America, alone, did our 
fathers suffer and strive. They were the soldiers of 
humanity, fighting for the benefit of every nation and 
clime ; and the event which is this day celebrated 
throughout the land, will, if their descendants be faith- 
ful and firm, be ultimately honored as the most memor- 
able epoch in the history of man. It is ours to see that 
the palladium, which is left to us, be so guarded and 
defended, that others shall become happy because we 
have been true. This is to be done by defending scru- 
pulously the integrity and honor of our country, by 
bringing this continent to the adoption of the princi- 
ples maintained in the Declaration of Independence, 
and by always preserving the Union of the States as 
the surest pledge of our security and greatness. Never 
may our country become like the six and twenty aste- 
roids that modern telescopes have revealed, which are 
but the fragments of a glorious planet that once shone 
among the stars ; but may it ever remain like Jupiter, 
with its union unbroken, flashing out its glad beams to 
cheer the benighted, and influencing every other mem- 
ber of the system by its own fidelity to the great laws 
of Heaven. 

It is the province of America ultimately to embrace 
all nations within the influence of liberal institutions. 
Often have we seen the people of the old world catch- 



33 



ing hope and inspiration from the light that blazes be- 
yond the Atlantic, dash forward in order to gain by a 
convulsive grasp the privileges that can be won alone 
by experience and toil. But, though unsuccessful from 
time to time, our principles must finally triumph. 
Their success is not to be obtained by unfurling hostile 
banners, and engaging in a crusade against the despo- 
tisms of Europe. They are to be propagated by carry- 
ing out the teachings of the past, by exhibiting within 
our own territory the advantage and excellence of 
republican forms of government, and by showing that, 
however far the God Terminus may advance on the 
American continent, he still bears the spirit of the 
institutions which had their origin in 1620, and entered 
upon their manhood in 1776. The fact that has given 
strength to the country and a moral grandeur super- 
added to its strength, has been its very exemption from 
wars which have desolated other portions of the earth. 
And now, when we have attained a national impor- 
tance such as the world has never seen, when we have 
acquired prosperity and renown from the course already 
pursued, shall we rush blindly forward and plunge into 
a strife whose end no one can tell 1 Shall the glorious 
hopes of humanity be thrown by us to the winds ? 
And shall our national character and influence be haz- 
arded simply at the promptings of sympathy 1 No ; 
such cannot be the wish of any who regard aright the 
true honor and welfare of their native land. The Eu- 
ropean strife between liberty and despotism when it 
comes, — and come it must, — will be long and fearful. 



34 



One by one will victories be added to the cause of free- 
dom. Step by step will it advance on territory too 
long subservient to emperors and kings. But dangers 
and darkness rest upon that strife. There must be 
defeats as well as triumphs, disappointments as well as 
joys. The patriot leaders will at times despair ; but the 
banners which in one generation have been stained by 
disaster, may in the next be borne on to victory. 
Cruel penalties and cruel punishments may be the lot 
of many ; and long imprisonments be theirs. Yet let 
them ever feel, in the night of deep despair, that, come 
weal or woe, come success or defeat, there is one sure 
home for them. Let them know that, if exiled from the 
land of their nativity, there is still here a warm welcome 
for them, and a pleasant country where tyranny cannot 
pursue them. Let them remember that the greatness 
which to-day makes America the envy and admiration 
of nations, was won by anxious watchings, through 
hardships and through tears ; and that it is by treading 
such thorny pathways they can hope to gain the fair 
gardens and enduring halls of freedom. Thus will the 
struggling champions of liberty take courage ; for, 
hope is with them. The lightning may gleam from 
the dark clouds above, but it will reveal the calm 
heavens beyond. The thunder may roll over their 
heads ; yet they will hear a voice of encouragement, 
speaking louder and stronger than the murmurs of the 
tempest. The rain may descend upon them; but it 
cannot wash away principles that are dearer even than 
life. They will look steadily forward for the hour 



35 



when the darkness will break ; and the sun, bursting 
through its pavilioned drapery, shall robe the retreat- 
ing clouds with hues of crimson and gold, and display 
the bow of promise which will announce the danger 
and tempest to be over. Then will the victorious com- 
batants come forth to thank America for her example. 
They will thank her for having remained true to her- 
self, consistent with her past history ; and by keeping 
aloof from a struggle in which there was no active part 
for her, for having preserved the ark of the liberties of 
mankind. 

Our mission is to occupy America ; and in doing 
this we shall eventually control the world. We have 
rivers waiting for enterprise, solitudes for life, and 
prairies for the labor of man. The tide of population, 
rolling westward, will soon sweep over the desert 
places of the land, clothing them with fertility and 
beauty. The hardy pioneer to-day is clearing the 
forest on the banks of the Colorado, where in a few 
years will arise temples of worship and seminaries of 
science. On the spot where a company of adventurers 
have but just erected their rude log-huts in some smil- 
ing valley, may shortly appear a metropolis whose pros- 
perity will be secured by the same free institutions and 
laws that prevail in our midst. Our country will thus 
spread like the Banian tree of eastern climes, striking 
root wherever there is soil to feed it, gaining strength 
from the new trunks which it plants in the ground, 
affording shade to all who come beneath its branches, 
and food to those who partake of the fruit which its 
waving boughs afford. 



36 



Largely even now is the influence of America felt 
in Europe. The toiling serf, as he counts the hours 
of his bondage, rejoices that a day-star has arisen 
over his cottage, in token of a glorious morning at 
hand. The peasant, as he wanders by the banks of 
the Danube, the Rhone and the Volga, or rests by 
the ruined castles that skirt the Rhine, is cheered 
by the glad tidings which come to him over the 
distant waters ; and whilst he hears the marvels 
which have been wrought by the genius of Liberty, 
he resolves that he or his descendants shall be free. 
The monarch begins to find that the strongest throne 
may totter, that the walls of palaces cannot shut out 
the popular demand for rights ; and in the event that 
his subjects' wishes are not heard nor their wants heed- 
ed, he will find himself at the mercy of a power which 
he cannot control. Thus already is America thunder- 
ing at the gates of Europe ; not as when the followers 
of Mahomet at Constantinople, or on the banks of the 
Xeres, demanded that continent for the propagation of 
the Islam faith. Theirs was the aim to extend the rule 
of the Crescent, and compel nations to bow to the will 
of a barbarous despot. Our mission is to carry forward 
the dominion of the Cross ; and make potentates and 
princes bend to the ^vill and supremacy of the people. 

Other continents are likewise to be benefited by the 
example of America. Africa, injured Africa, must 
arise from her dust and deserts ; and the soil that once 
could boast of Memphis and Carthage, will glory in 
new states and cities, which shall acknowledge a more 



37 



liberal sway than was ever knoAvn to a Pharaoh or a 
Hanibal. And Asia, the birthplace of nations — 
which can point with one hand to the spot where man 
was created, and the other to the place where he was 
redeemed — Asia, which has so long remained a stum- 
bling block in the progress of the race, — she, too, must » 
come forth from her fallen state and revive under the 
genial influence of our beneficent institutions. Even 
now is our voice beginning to be heard among the 
camphor trees of Japan ; q,nd whatever may be the 
strength of ancient prejudices, that island must soon be 
brought within the pale of a Christian civilization. 
In this way shall America pay back to Asia the ser- 
vice she rendered by the discovery of the mariner's 
compass, which opened up our continent to the knowl- 
edge of the world. And thus will the dreams of Co- 
lumbus in a measure be answered, who had hoped to 
find a new route to the Indies, and, with the wealth 
obtained by his discoveries, to commence a last crusade 
which should rescue the Holy Land and the sepulchre 
of the Redeemer from the hands of the Moslem. 

Look at the golden pillars erected on the opposite 
shores of the Pacific, towards which our people are 
rapidly moving ! California has become a sister repub- 
lic, and is alive with a prosperous and happy popula- 
tion. Almost simultaneously, the treasures of Australia 
are brought to light. Thither are hastening the sons 
of freedom, from our own and distant lands. They are 
laying the foundations of a republic which will proba- 
bly be the first to establish American Institutions on 



38 



the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Soon will 
other isles of the Pacific be instinct with fresh life ; 
and as our floating argosies pause at the Sandwich or 
Society group, they may help to build new Tyres and 
Alexandrias, organized with free and ennobling laws. 
♦ America must advance from her western coasts to the 
shores of the Oriental World ; and these islands may 
become the stepping stones on her triumphal march. 
For, she carries with her the benign influences of Lib- 
erty, Learning and Religipn ; which, together, form a 
Triple Alliance that can prevail against the world. 

This consummation, we know, belongs to a distant 
age. The amelioration of the race is the work of time ; 
and wrongs that have prevailed through centuries 
cannot at once be redressed or removed. But the in- 
fluences of an enlightened civilization must spread, 
extending their benign operation over remote regions, 
bringing new rewards to labor, new hopes to the op- 
pressed. Christianity, as announced by the toiling 
missionary, must shed into the heathen mind its elevat- 
ing and ennobling truths, quickening faith by up- 
holding an hereafter where all wrongs shall cease and 
justice triumph, and by pointing continually to the 
glorious life of One who embodied all the "virtues and 
demonstrated their efficiency by suffering and death. 
Learning will spread its gay banquet for the ignorant 
sons of earth. It will bring forward the fruits of other 
ages and the choicest products of our own times, fur- 
nishing a repast that shall impart life and health unto 
all. These agencies must all advance long before the 



39 



perfect triumph of Liberty in the world. Still it is 
well, on a day like this, to ascend some political Pisgah 
and look towards the promised land, watered by fair 
rivers, and rich in its valleys and flowering hills. The 
contemplation gives us new strength and fresh courage ; 
at the same time it reminds us of our duty by exhibit- 
ing the labor we have yet to accomplish. In our 
hands is placed the Oriflamme of the race, which the 
men of America, we trust, are destined to bear aloft 
through long centuries to come. Let us look forward 
with prophetic hope to the glad day when all nations 
shall turn with grateful interest to the event we now 
celebrate; when they shall be able thence to trace 
unnumbered benefits and blessings which have added 
to their happiness and welfare ; and when all shall 
regard our era of Independence as the anniversary 
of man's political redemption, — the time when the 
true philosophy of government was announced, and 
when it was shown that national greatness and renown 
are to be found in attachment to Liberty and Law. 
There are flowers that grow in tropical climates, which 
require long years to bring forward to perfection. A 
century passes over the plant, and then only does it 
shoot up its blossoms, that reflect the beauty and sup- 
plicate the smiles of Heaven. So was the event which 
we this day commemorate, the brilliant blossom of cen- 
turies, and well might the smiles of Heaven be asked 
to rest upon the peerless flower of Liberty. 

America has proved abundantly the competency of 
free institutions to answer the wants of a j)eople. 



40 



They open, in a manner before unimagined, the sources 
of national wealth and prosperity. They clothe the 
solitary places with life, and dreary spots with beauty. 
They confer on a country a strength which can defy 
every adversary ; making her strong without armies, 
safe without fortresses, while, at the slightest whisper of 
dishonor or insult, unnumbered soldiers come forth to 
vindicate her tarnished fame. They supply every rank 
and profession with new life, bringing talent to every 
station, and assigning to each citizen his fitting place. 
From mountain homes they summon statesmen, and 
look for their guardians in the humblest -village of the 
land. The great sons of the republic may die. 
Wearied in her service, they may relinquish their 
labors ; but others arise to assume the vacant charge, 
and the machinery of government still moves on, unin- 
terrupted in its course. The stream of our country's 
prosperity is constantly fed by the same highland 
springs which have already contributed to swell the 
measure of her wealth and fame ; and the pillars of the 
state still rest upon the foundations of virtue and patri- 
otism. It would seem that the " Fountain of perpetual 
youth," which the Spanish navigator sought for in 
vain, within the borders of our southern territory, had 
been opened to our nation, and that the gushing waters 
had been found, which can give a country unfailing 
beauty and strength. 

While speaking of the stability of our goA'emment 
and institutions, even though the great men be remov- 
ed, we cannot forget to-day the tolling of the Sabbath 



41 



bells which a few months since announced the death of 
America's noblest statesman. For forty years he had 
advocated with unexampled eloquence and power the 
liberty and union of these States ; and from the time 
he left his boyhood's home, his heart and genius were 
dedicated to his country. The mountains of New 
Hampshire gave him to America ; and his character 
and conduct constantly bore the colossal imprint of his 
birthplace. When an earthquake threatened to shake 
the columns of the state, and the foundations of the 
political structure trembled, his was the voice that 
calmed the troubled elements ; his the arm that gave 
new firmness to the massive pillars. He toiled long 
and bravely in the service of his country, and death 
alone terminated his matchless labors. But he is gone ! 
Our city followed him with mourning to the grave ; 
and now he sleeps in the pilgrim soil he loved so well. 
Whoever shall seek the resting place consecrated to 
the memory of eloquence and patriotism, let him 
repair to the sea-girt tomb at Marshfield; and as he 
listens to the voices uttered by the broad Ocean, he will 
hear the most fitting monitor that can speak to him of 
the greatness and genius of Webster. 

What our country may become, we cannot tell. So 
rapid and brilliant has been her progress thus far, so 
many marvels has she accomplished, so many cities and 
states has she founded in the wilderness, surpassing by 
realities the most fanciful visions of oriental story, that 
we cannot presume accurately to define the boundaries 



42 



of her future achievements. But, that she must reach 
the highest position of national elevation, that she 
must present the happiest combination of prosperity 
blended with freedom that was ever known, that she is 
to be the foremost empire of the world, and to wield 
an influence greater than was that of Rome, or is now 
exercised in St. Petersburg or London, is as certain as 
that she remains true to the memories and suflferings 
of the past, and never allows the spirit of anarchy to 
usurp her liberties, or the spirit of discord to sunder 
the bonds of our Union. 

- The greater our country may become, the wider her 
influence may extend, a deeper and holier interest 
will be associated with one act and one day. There 
Avill always be a Mecca to which every true American 
shall turn — a Jerusalem, whither he will gladly repair 
to worship and praise. This Anniversary, and the illus- 
trious deed it commemorates, will receive greater hon- 
ors from mankind as time rolls on. They will come 
forth from the crumbling ruins of transatlantic despot- 
isms, to requite America for having tested the potency 
and blessings of liberal institutions, and for having 
wrought out for them and the world the problem of 
self-government. They will honor the Day that does 
honor to man ; and while it shall be crowned each 
year with fresh chaplets and garlands, our country will 
continue to sweep on to the loftiest rank in the roll of 
nations. 

Go forward, then, America, in thine exalted mission ! 
Go, speak encouragement to every captive and bond- 



43 



man ! Scatter light in the dark places of the earth ! 
Shed hope in the despairing bosom ! Bring comfort to 
the troubled mind! Knock at the palace doors of 
every despot in the world ; and in the sacred name of 
Justice, demand Liberty for man ! Kindle up on the 
night-sky of tyranny the Aurora of beauty, which shall 
announce a golden morning at hand ! Be true to 
thyself and thy matchless opportunities ; and thou 
shalt become the leader of nations, and march under 
the banners of Freedom in the van of Empire ! 



DINNER AT FANEUIL HALL. 



THE DINNER. 



The dinner was given, according to the usual custom, in Faneuil 
Hall. The Hall was decorated with great taste, and the dinner, 
which was prepared hj J. B. Smith, afforded universal satisfac- 
tion. In the language of one of the city newspapers, " it was the 
general sentiment that it was the best 4th of July dinner ever 
given in Faneuil Hall." Nearly eleven hundred persons were 
present. A blessing was asked by Rev. Joseph Cummings, the 
Chaplain of the day. At the conclusion of the dinner, the Hon. 
Benjamin Seaver, Mayor of the City, arose and addressed the 
company as follows : — 

Fellow Citizens : It may well be considered a subject of 
congratulation that we are permitted, as a municipal corporation, 
to celebrate the seventy-seventh anniversary of our National In- 
dependence within this Cradle of American Liberty. Let us then 
rejoice and be grateful that we can hail the return of this great 
day under circumstances so propitious ; that our country is pros- 
perous and happy beyond any precedent ; that the rich inherit- 
ance transmitted to us by our patriotic fathers, through so much 
peril and labor, is yet secure. Cfratitude — gratitude is the senti- 
ment which should fill every heart on the return of this day. Let 
us put aside all party strifes, all local differences, and remember 
only that we are all citizens of one great country, and supporters 
of our glorious Union. It is impossible that we can, on an occa- 



48 

slon like this, come up to this hall Tvithout bearing in affectionate 
remembrance the patriots of '76, and the equally patriotic men of 
later times — especially our own Webster, whose eloquent voice 
seems still to echo within these walls, and for whose death the 
whole country has hardly yet ceased to mourn. But, thank God, 
he still Hves, and ever will live in the hearts of his countrymen, 
as the ablest and most efficient expounder and defender of the 
Constitution and the Union. We cannot fail, also, to remember 
the patriotic old thirteen who stood shoulder to shoulder through 
the glorious revolutionary struggle ; but at the same time we will 
not forget the younger sisters of the Union, for whom we cherish 
a strong attachment and regard. God bless them all ! 

It is my agreeable duty, as well as pleasure, in behalf of the 
City Council, to bid a hearty welcome to our respected and hon- 
ored guests ; their presence here to-day heightens our enjoyment. 
Let us, then, fellow citizens, spend this hour in the " Old Cradle" 
with becoming hilarity and joy, and with renewed pledges of our 
lives and all that we possess, for the prosperity and honor of our 
beloved country. 

The Chief Marshal will now announce the first regular senti- 
ment. 

' George R. Sampson, Esq., who acted as Toast-Master on the 
occasion, then announced the following sentiment : — 

Tlie Bay We Celebrate. — The day which grandly heads the 
calendar of our history ; the day which commemorates the vir- 
tues, the sacrifices, and triumphs of our fathers ; our children's 
children shall celebrate it till latest time. 

This was received with applause, as was also the following : — 

The President of the United States. 

The following was drank standing and in silence : — 

The memory of Washington. 

The fourth regular toast was — 

The Senate of the United States. — When ever it (Everett) 
speaks, discord and disunion shall hide their heads. 



49 



Hon. Edward Everett responded as follows : — 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I thank you for the toast 
which has just been given, and for the marked kindness with 
which it has been received hy the company. I deem it a privi- 
lege to be present on this occasion : We all, I think, sir, who 
had the good fortune to be present at the Old South Church, felt 
that it was good to be there. We felt that it was good to pause 
awhile from the hurry of passing events, and revive our recollec- 
tions of the times which tried men's souls. I do not know that 
I have ever attended a celebration of the Fourth of July con- 
ducted in a more interesting manner. The solemn prayers that 
the God of our fathers would extend his protection to us ; the 
public reading of the great Declaration which has given immor- 
tality to the day ; the sweet voices in the gallery, giving assur- 
ance that the sons and daughters were training up to catch 
the spirit and imitate the example of the fathers and mothers ; 
this all gave uncommon interest to the exercises. It was, also, 
I own, sir, particularly pleasing to me to listen to our young 
friend on my right, the orator of the day, who gave us such a 
treat in his ingenious, manly, and fervid discourse, in which he 
rose very far above the commonplaces of the occasion, and 
adorned his great theme with much original and seasonable illus- 
tration. It was especially gratifying to me, sir, to witness the 
brilliant promise he afforded us of adding new lustre to a name on 
which two generations in this community have accumulated their 
honors. 

I believe no one, sir, who has attended this day's exercises, or 
is now present, will be disposed to concur in the opinion, which 
we sometimes hear expressed, that the interest of the Fourth of 
July, is on the wane ; — that it is a worn-out, old-fashioned affair, 
which has ceased to have a significance for us. For my own 
part, I value it in no small degree, because it is, I will not say 
" an old-fashioned," but I will say an ancient and venerable insti- 
tution ; because its annual celebration for seventy years has already 
nourished the patriotic feelings of more than two generations ; and 
amidst the perilous convulsions of States abroad, and the rapid 
march of events at home, has left us one great theme on which 



50 



political opinion is united ; one happy day on which party strife is 
at rest. 

I trust, sir, that the Fourth of July will ever continue to he 
celebrated as it has been to-day, understandingly as well as en- 
thusiastically ; because it furnishes at once the most instructive 
and glorious illustration of the union of the two great principles of 
STABILITY and PROGRESS, on which our independence was originally 
founded ; — on which our prosperity, at the present day, rests as 
upon its corner stone ; and by whose cordial alliance, and joint- 
working alone, the great designs of Providence in reference to 
our beloved country can be fulfilled. 

I am the more desirous, sir, of making this remark on the pres- 
ent occasion with some emphasis, because there is, on the part of 
many — perhaps of most — persons among us, a disposition to sepa- 
rate these two great principles — to take up one to the neglect of 
the other — and consequently, in effect, to do violence to both. 
As in all party divisions, so in this ; we throw ourselves passion- 
ately into the cause we have embraced, push its peculiar views 
beyond proper limits, overlook all reasonable qualifications, and 
forget that practical wisdom and plain common sense are gen- 
erally found about half-Avay between the two extremes. Accord- 
ingly there are and always have been among us, as in all coun- 
tries where thought and speech are free, men who give themselves 
up, heart and soul, to the reverence of the past ; they can do 
justice to no wisdom but the wisdom of ages ; and if an institution 
is not time-honored, it is very apt, by them, not to be honored at 
all. They forget that the tall oak was once an acorn, and that 
the oldest things had a beginning. This class of men received a 
few years ago, in England, the designation of " conservatives," 
from their disposition to maintain things just as they are. Re- 
cently, in this country, they have been called by the rather un- 
promising name of " old fogies," the origin and precise import of 
which are unknown to me. 

Now, sir, these benighted individuals (straight-laced and stiff- 
necked as they are) err only in pushing a sound principle to ex- 
tremes ; in obeying one law of our social nature to the neglect of 
another, equally certain and important. The reverence of the 
past— adherence to what is established — may be carried a great 
deal too far, but it is not merely an innate feehng of the human 



51 

heart, but a direct logical consequence of the physical and spirit- 
ual constitution which our Creator has given us. The sacred tie 
of family, which, reaching backward and forward, binds the gen- 
erations of men together, and draws out the plaintive music of our 
being from the solemn alternation of cradle and grave, — the black 
and white keys of life's harpsichord ; the magical power of lan- 
guage, which puts spirit in communion with spirit in distant pe- 
riods and climes ; the grand sympathies of country, which lead 
the Greeks of the present day to talk of " the victory which we 
gained over the barbarians at Marathon;" — the mystic tissue of 
race, woven far back in the dark chambers of the past, and which 
after the vicissitudes and migrations of centuries wraps up great 
nations in its broad mantle, — those significant expressions which 
carry volumes of meaning in a word, — Forefather, Parent, Child, 
Posterity, Native Land ; — these all teach us not bhndly to wor- 
ship, but duly to honor the past ; to study the lessons of experi- 
ence ; to scan the high counsels of man in his great Associations, 
as those counsels have been developed in constitutions, in laws, in 
maxims, in traditions, in great undoubted principles of right and 
wrong, which have been sanctioned by the general consent of 
those who have gone before us ; — thus tracing in human institu- 
tions some faint reflection of that Divine Wisdom, which fashioned 
the leaf that unfolded itself six weeks ago in the forest, on the 
pattern of the leaf which was bathed in the dews of Paradise in 
the morning of creation. 

These feeUngs, I say, sir, are just and natural. The principle 
which prompts them lies deep in our nature ; it gives birth to the 
dearest charities of life, and it fortifies some of the sternest virtues. 
But these principles and feelings are not the whole of our nature. 
They are a portion only of those sentiments which belong to us as 
men, as patriots, and Christians. We do not err when we cherish 
them, but when we cherish and act on them exclusively ; forget- 
ting that there is another class of feelings and principles — differ- 
ent, though not antagonistic — which form another side to our 
wonderfully complicated existence. 

This is the side to which an opposite class in the community 
devotes itself exclusively. They are " the men of progress," or, 
as they sometimes call themselves, in imitation of similar designa- 
tions in most countries of Europe, "Young America." Either 



52 



from natural ardor of temperament, or the fervid spirit of youth, 
or impatience caused bj constant meditation on the abuses -which 
accumulate in most human concerns in the lapse of time, they get 
to think that every thing, which has existed for a considerable 
time, is an abuse ; that, consequently, to change is, as a matter 
of course, to reform ; — to innovate, of necessity, an improvement. 
They do not consider that if this notion is carried too far it be- 
comes suicidal ; it condemns their own measures, and justifies the 
next generation in sweeping away their work, as remorselessly as 
they are disposed to sweep away the work of their predecessors. 

Now here again, sir, the error is one of exaggeration only. 
Young America is a very honest fellow — he means well, but like 
other young folks he is sometimes a little too much in a hurry. 
He needs the curb occasionally, as we old ones, perhaps, still 
more frequently need the spur. There is a principle of progress 
in the human mind — in all the works of men's hands — in all asso- 
ciations and communities, from the village club to the empire that 
embraces a quarter of the human race — in all political institu- 
tions — in art, literature and science — and most especially in all 
new countries, where it must, from the nature of the case, be the 
leading and governing principle. Who can compare the modern 
world, its condition, its arts, its institutions, with the ancient 
world and doubt this : the daily, newspaper, smoking every morn- 
ing from a hundred presses, with a strip of hieroglyphics on the 
side of an obelisk, perplexing the world with its dubious import, 
and even that found out within the last thirty years ; — the ocean 
steamer with the row galley, creeping timidly round the shore ; — 
the railways in the United States alone, without mentioning those 
of Europe, with those famous Roman paved roads, the Appian 
and Flarainian way, to which the orator alluded — which our rail- 
roads exceed ten-fold in extent, to say nothing of their superiority 
in every other respect, as a means of communication ; — the print- 
ing press, driven by steam, with the scribe's toilsome pen ; — the 
electric telegraph, with the mail coach, the post horse, the pedes- 
trian courier ; — and above all, a representative republican con- 
federacy, extending over a continent, with a feudal despotism 
building a palace on the necks of a people, or a stormy Grecian 
democracy, subsisting its citizens by pubHc largess, deeming all 
labor servile, ostracising its good men, insulting and oppressing 



53 

its allies, and rending its own vitals, within the circuit of the city 
walls to which it was confined — who, I say, can make this com- 
parison, and doubt that the principle of progress is as deeply 
seated in our nature as the principle of conservatism, and that 
true practical wisdom and high national policy reside in the due 
mixture and joint action of the two ? 

Now, sir, this was the wisdom of the men of '76. This is the 
lesson of the Fourth of July ; this is the oracle which speaks to 
us from the shrines of this consecrated hall. If we study the 
writings of the men of that day, we find that they treated the 
cause of civil liberty not only as one of justice and right, of sen- 
timent and feeling, but also as one of history and tradition, of / 
charters and laws. They not only looked to the future, but they * 
explored the past. They built wisely and skilfully, in such sort 
that after times might extend the stately front of the temple of 
freedom, and enlarge its spacious courts, and pile its stories, arch 
above arch, gallery above gallery, to the heavens ; but they dug 
the foundation deep down to the eternal rock ; the town, the 
school, the militia, the church, — those were the four corner 
stones on which they reared the edifice. 

If we look only at one part of their work — if we see them por- 
ing over musty parchments by the midnight lamp — citing the 
year books against writs of assistance — disputing themselves 
hoarse about this phrase in the charter of Charles the First, and 
that section in a statute of Edward the Third, we should be dis- 
posed to class them with the most bigoted conservatives that ever 
threw a drag chain round the limbs of a young and ardent people. 
But, gracious heavens, look at them again, when the trumpet 
sounds the hour of resistance ; survey the other aspect of their 
work. See these undaunted patriots in their obscure caucus 
gatherings, in their town meetings, in their provincial assemblies, 
in their Continental Congress, breathing defiance to the British 
Parliament and the British throne. March with their raw militia 
to the conflict with the trained veterans of the seven years' war. 
Witness them, a group of colonies extemporized into a confed- 
eracy, entering with a calm self-possession into alliance with the 
oldest monarchy in Europe ; — and occupying as they did a narrow 
belt of territory along the coast, — thinly peopled, partially cleared, 
hemmed in by the native savage, by the Alleganies, by the Ohio, 



54 



and the lakes — ^behold them, dilating with the grandeur of the 
position, radiant in the prospective glories of their career, casting 
abroad the germs of future independent States, destined, at no 
distant daj, not merely to cover the face of the thirteen British 
colonies, but to spread over the territories of France and Spain 
on this continent — over Florida and Louisiana — over New Mexico 
and California — ^beyond the Mississippi, beyond the Rocky Moun- 
tains — to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the Arctic 
and the Torrid zones, in one great net-work of confederate repub- 
lican government: — contemplate this, and you Avill acknowledge 
the men of Seventy-Six to have been the boldest men of progress 
that the world has ever seen ! 

These are the men whom the Fourth of July imdtes us to re- 
spect and to imitate ; — the James Otises and the Warrens, the 
Franklins and the Adamses, the Patrick Henrys and the Jeffer- 
sons, and him whom I may not name in the plural number, bright- 
est of the bright and purest of the pure — Washington himself. But 
let us be sure to imitate them, (or to strive to do so,) in all their 
great principles, in both parts of their noble and comprehensive 
policy. Let us reverence them as they reverenced their prede- 
cessors — not seeking to build up the future on the ruins of all 
that had gone before, nor yet to bind down the living, breathing, 
burning present to the mouldering relics of the dead past — ^but, 
deducing the rule of a bold and safe progress from the records of 
a wise and glorious experience. 

I am trespassing, unconscionably, sir, upon the time of the 
company, but I will, with your leave, add one further reflection. 
We live at an era as eventful, in my judgment, as that of '76, 
though in a different way. We have no foreign yoke to throw 
off; but in the discharge of the duty devolved upon us by Provi- 
dence, we have to carry the republican independence which our 
fathers achieved, with all the organized institutions of an enlight- 
ened community, institutions of religion, law, education, charity, 
art, and all the thousand graces of the highest culture, beyond 
the Missouri, beyond the Sierra Nevada ; perhaps in time around 
the circuit of the Antilles ; perhaps to the Archipelagoes of the 
Central Pacific. The pioneers are on the way ; who can tell how 
far and how fast they will travel? Who, that compares the 
North America of 1753, but a century ago, and numbering but 



55 



a little over a million of souls of European origin ; or still more 
the North America of 1653, when there was certainly not a fifth 
part of that number ; who that compares this with the North 
America of 1853 — its twentj-two millions of European origin, 
and its thirty-one States, will venture to assign limits to our 
growth ; — will dare to compute the time-table of our railway pro- 
gress ; or lift so much as a corner of the curtain that hides the 
crowded events of the coming century ? 

This only we can plainly see : the old world is rocking to its 
foundations. From the Gulf of Fmland to the Yellow Sea, every 
thing is shaken. The Spirit of the Age has gone forth to hold 
his great review, and the kings of the earth are moved to meet 
him at his coming. The band which holds the great powers of 
Europe together in one political league, is strained to its utmost 
tension. The catastrophe may for awhile be staved off, but to all 
appearance they are hurrying to the verge of one of those con- 
flicts which, like the battles of Pharsalia and Actium, affect the 
condition of States for twice ten centuries. The Turkish Empire, 
encamped but for four centuries on the frontiers of Europe, and 
the Chinese Monarchy, contemporary with David and Solomon, 
are alike crumbling. While these events are passing in the Old 
World, a tide of emigration which has no parallel in history, is 
pouring Westward across the Atlantic and Eastward across the 
Pacific, to our shores. The real political vitality of the world 
seems moving to the new Hemisphere, whose condition and for- 
tunes it devolves upon us and our children to mould and regulate. 

Sir, it is a grand, let me say a solemn thought, well calculated 
to still the passions of the day, and to elevate us above the paltry 
strife of parties. It teaches us that we are called to the highest, 
and I do verily believe the most momentous trust that ever de- 
volved upon one generation of men. Let us meet it with a cor- 
responding temper and purpose, — with the wisdom of a well- 
instructed experience and with the foresight and preparation of 
a glorious future ; not on the narrow platforms of party policy 
and temporary expediency, but in the broad and comprehensive 
spirit of seventy-six. 

After Mr. Everett had resumed his seat, the Mayor called for 
nine cheers for the eloquent orator, which were given with a 
hearty good will. 



56 

The fifth regular toast was 

The Judiciary — Its high commission is to achieve the suprem- 
acy of the law, without which the liberty which our forefathers 
secured would be worthless. Its divorce from all partizan influ- 
ence is the surest guarantee that such commission will be well 
executed. 

Hon. B. F. Hallett being called upon to respond, spoke as 
follows : — 

Mr. Mayor — As you have done me the honor to require a 
response to a compliment to the Judiciary, I am not a little in- 
clined to resort to my legal rights by appealing to this company 
whether I should not be justified in bringing an action for injury 
to reputation by calling me up just after that eloquent gentleman 
has spoken, of whom it may well be said, that Avhenever he is 
present in an assembly, all desire to hear him when any one else 
is speaking, and when he is speaking all desire to hear nobody 
else. Especially am I at a loss how to follow him, when, in the 
eloquent outburst he has made in favor of the extension of Amer- 
ican States, in which I rejoice to have his concurrence, I find, 
that even with all my old predilections for annexation, it is diffi- 
cult for my imagination to keep pace with him in taking a stride 
into the future that is to place one foot of young America on the 
Arctic and the other on the Antarctic, including, of course, 
Antilles and the adjacent Isles of the Seas ! But, Sir, there is 
so much method in his progress, that I do not intend to be 
behind him in any movement towards the North Pole, although I 
had not much contemplated embracing the Antipodes at the South 
Pole. It is nevertheless, such a noble tribute to the true Amer- 
ican doctrine of peaceful expansion of our borders, to the utmost 
limits of at least one Continent, that I hail it as auspicious of an 
universal sentiment on that once divided issue among American 
statesmen. 

I must hasten to escape from the dilemma in which I stand 
here, after such a smooth and deep stream of eloquence has car- 
ried the audience beyond my reach, by invoking to my aid the 
associations that throng this Hall, connected with the observances 
of this hallowed day. It is now seventy years ago, when in 



57 



1783, James Otis, he who above all men set the ball of American 
revolution in motion, stood in the place you now occupy, as Mod- 
erator of " a Town meeting of the freeholders and other inhab- 
itants of the town of Boston," and was appointed Chairman of 
the Committee " to tender the thanks of the town to the Orator 
of the day for his splendid and eloquent oration in commemora- 
tion of the horrid Massacre of the 5th of March, 1770," and at 
his suggestion, it was voted that thereafter the observance of the 
bloody Massacre should be discontinued, and the 4th of July 
should be celebrated as the national birth day. 

That was the origin of the celebration of the 4tli of July in 
Boston. The theme which the " horrid Massacre " had annually 
furnished for thirteen years, against tyranny and standing 
armies, and in which the elder Warren had twice appeared as the 
orator, was changed for that of National Independence, and the 
first orator on that occasion was Dr. John Warren, one of the 
family of the illustrious martyr. From that 4th of July to this, 
now seventy years, Boston has uninterruptedly observed that na- 
tional day — an honor that belongs exclusively to her, and which 
can be claimed for no other town, city or community in the 
United States. 

Sir, the citizens of Boston thank you, and your associates for 
the patriotic manner in which you have kept up this glorious 
usage during your administration ; and so fixed has it now 
become, as a custom always to be " honored in the observance," 
that I venture to say, if any Mayor or Board of Aldermen or 
Common Council, should attempt to disregard it, they would be 
held in no better estimation by their fellow citizens than if they 
should propose to demolish our churches and school houses ! It 
is peculiarly fitting that we should hold that celebration in this 
Hall, where originated those town meetings that were the earliest 
schools of freedom, and which connect the towns of Massachu- 
setts so intimately with the first movements and impulses that 
lead to national Independence. This reflection has come home to 
me recently, with renewed force, in the Convention now assem- 
bled to revise the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and which 
has adjourned over this day to participate in its observance. 
Without the town meetings here held by our fathers in Faneuil 
Hall, we should have had no Bunker Hill, no Declaration of In- 



58 

dependence, no Fourth of July, no Union, and no Constitution 
for a Convention to revise. 

Another instructive lesson may be derived from recurring to 
the themes that have composed the materials of Fourth of July 
Orations for nearly three quarters of a century. From the first, 
they were Independence, Union and the disturbing causes of the 
time, that were supposed to endanger both.' We can now look 
upon these formidable bugbears of the day, and contemplate with 
complacency their having passed into oblivion, while Independence 
and Union have gone on expanding. For a while foreign influ- 
ence was the great terror of all parties, though they totally differed 
as to the source from which it was most to be feared. One party 
was terrified at French influence, and its orators were eloquent to 
desperation upon that topic. Another party insisted that the 
Union was to be subverted by British conspiracy and usurpation, 
and their themes of alarm were northern confederation, and sepa- 
ration of the States. The fear of being overrun by a foreign 
population was at an early period the great terror of one class of 
patriots, and while the others have passed away, the latter has 
come down to our day, and has been combined with other domes- 
tic relations, threatening disunion. Yet these bugbears of dis- 
union have all vanished or are fast disappearing, and we are here 
to-day with a stronger and a broader Union than our fathers ever 
hoped for. 

The young men of to-day. cannot realize the efiect which the 
apprehension of British and French influence formerly produced 
upon parties throughout the country, and in a little while, this 
fear of foreign immigration, which has almost subsided, will be- 
come as forgotten and unmeaning. It would be wise for alarm- 
ists on that score to study the last census, and test their fears by 
figures. Ask them what is the proportion of citizens of foreign 
birth in the country, and they would swell it to a half or a major- 
ity ; and yet, when we come to the figures, we find that of the 
free inhabitants of the United States, 17,737,505 are native 
born, while but 2,210,828 were born in foreign countries. There 
it is, in round numbers, seventeen miUions native and two millions 
foreign born, of whom, the proportion is forty-three per cent, from 
Ireland, twenty-five from Germany, twenty-one from England, 
Scotland and British America, two from France and five from all 



59 



other countries. This census enables us, for the first time, to 
discover of what materials the American people are composed, for 
we are all Americans, no matter where born. Th® whole living 
population, of foreign birth incorporated among us, is estimated 
at 2,214,000, and if we add the American children born here of 
foreign parents, we have but about two millions more ; so that all 
sorts of patriotic gentlemen who live in terror of foreign immigra- 
tion, may look at these figures and calm their fears. Why, Sir, 
this immigration is so far from being a source of apprehension, 
that it not only adds immensely to our national wealth by the 
great living capital of labor which it supplies to develop our re- 
sources, but it does not supply the demand for the great West, 
the vast North, and the mighty regions of the Pacific which we 
have still got to populate, while our passenger ships, forwarding 
agents and steam conveyances Tfre deriving incalculable revenues 
from this source. 

Consider another element of national progress and national se- 
curity. With this populating of new territories has been going 
on, at the same time, the fusion of emigration from the old to the 
new States. Out of seventeen millions of free inhabitants, four 
millions have migrated and settled beyond the States of their 
birth. From the old stock of our own New England has gone 
forth enough to leaven the whole lump ; and thus we have be- 
come the teachers as well as the founders of new States. These 
great facts come home to us, and impress upon all the responsible 
duty of looking well to the education of our people, in families, in 
schools, in town and State, and especially in patriotism ; just such 
patriotism as we come up hither to-day to commemorate. 

Let me conclude, by bringing you back to the point from which 
I started, the celebration of the Fourth of July in Boston in the 
olden time ; and we there find how the first thought of our fathers 
then was that which should be our first thought new — the preser- 
vation and perpetuity of the Union of these States. 

I give you — a renewal in 1853 of the Toast at the first cele- 
bration of the Fourth of July in Boston in 1783. 

" The Spirit of Union — May it pervade our whole country." 

The next regular toast was 



60 

The Army — Born amid the fires of our revolutionary struggle ; 
nurtured and reared on the fields of Trenton, Princeton, Mon- 
mouth and Yorktown ; disciplined and invigorated by the victo- 
ries of Buena Vista, Vera Cruz and Chepultepec ; the country 
now reposes in safety on the arm of its robust manhood. 

Major "VYyse was first called upon to reply to this sentiment, 
but he being absent, Lieut. James Van VoAsr, U. S. Army, re- 
sponded as follows :■ — 

Mr. Mayor,'' — In behalf of the Army, I return to you my 
thanks for the honor you have conferred upon that branch of the 
public service, by remembering it in such flattering terms, on this 
sacred day, and in this Hall consecrated by the spirits of our 
forefathers. ^ 

And I deeply regret. Sir, tljat the absence of others more 
worthy and able than myself, imposes upon me the duty of reply. 

Massachusetts, Sir, has ever contributed her portion to the 
Army of the United States ; when that army was without disci- 
pline, without a leader, without everything except the determina- 
tion to resist wrong, and uphold the right ; Massachusetts fur- 
nished her quota to the ranks, and assisted in organizing the con- 
flicting elements of a corps d'armee, that successfully withstood 
the tried veterans of the Seven Years' War. 

But your noble State has reaped her share of the glory, her 
history is imperishable, and her history is a bright eulogium on 
those who fell in that dark hour which preceded the brilliant 
dawning of our country's liberty. 

The Army is proud. Sir, that she has contributed something to 
the formation of our free and happy republic, and proud that 
America has gained a military renown that has spread through- 
out the nations of the Old World, and which none of their proud- 
est statesmen will dare to misunderstand. And now. Sir, the 
army is not resting ; though peace has succeeded to the hot tur- 
moil of a southern war, she is out on the trackless regions of our 
western territories, opening roads, establishing post offices, bring- 
ing to the knowledge of the people the elements of its future 
prosperity, preparing the way for the formation of new States, 
that will one day shine brightly in our national constellation. 

From the Mississippi to where the waters of the Pacific wash 



61 



our western domain, the army is now busy, and ere long a con- 
tinuous line of settlements, binding together the Alleghanies, the 
Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada, will attest its genius, 
its industry, and its usefulness. 

What the army has done, Sir, will ever be remembered ; what 
she will do depends upon those who now and will occupy the legis- 
lative halls of our country. It is to them the army looks for pro- 
tection and support, and through them she expects to add, still 
brighter wreaths to her own and her country's laurels. 

The Toast-Master then read the seventh regular toast, which 
was, 

The Navy — It now rests at its moorings in the repose of peace ; 
let but the voice of duty awaken its slumbers, and those thunders 
which once startled the echoes of Erie and Charaplain, shall startle 
the echoes of the world. 

To this sentiment, J. 0. Bkadford, Purser in the United States 
Navy, responded in the following manner : — 

I very much regret, Mr. Mayor, that I am thus unexpectedly, 
and perhaps inappropriately, called upon to speak in behalf of the 
Navy. I could wish that this duty devolved upon others better 
able than myself to respond to a sentiment so graceful and flatter- 
ing. In behalf of the Navy generally, and of my brother officers 
near me especially, I tender to you, Mr. Mayor, and your asso- 
ciates, our warmest thanks for the handsome compliment paid the 
service, to which we have the honor to belong, a compliment not 
less valued on account of the occasion and its associations than 
for the marked enthusiasm with which it was received by this vast 
assemblage of citizens. 

With the City of Boston are connected associations of peculiar 
interest to every naval officer. It was here that the nation's fa- 
vorite, the Old Constitution, was built, and it was with a crew 
composed of the young men of Boston, of Marblehead and New- 
buryport, that she went forth on her mission of conquest and 
glory ; and I believe the facts will bear me out in asserting that 
the achievements of that single ship, at that particular time, did 
more than any thing else to rouse the drooping spirits of our 



62 

countrymen and nerve with energy and power tlie arm of our 
government for a more vigorous and successful prosecution of 
the war. 

During our recent contest with Mexico, the opportunities for 
naval distinction were few. Our brethren of the Army were the 
favored sons of fortune — they gathered laurels in profusion, and 
long may they wear, honorably and proudly, what they so nobly 
and gloriously won. But if the Navy had little to do, it had much 
to suffer, and if we cannot point to thousands of our brethren who 
fell amid the. storm and tempest of battle, we can number those 
whose lives were as freely sacrificed upon their country's altar. 
And, sir, while we give all honor to the brave hearts and gallants 
spirits who, at the sound .of the trumpet, stormed the rugged 
heights of Cerro Gordo, scaled the battlements of Chepultapec, 
and fell amid the very shouts of victory, fighting hand to hand 
with the foe, let us not be unmindful of those noble fellows whom 
slow, cankering disease held in its hot deadly embrace, while their 
undying wills sighed for the " battle and its fires." 

I can conceive, Mr. Mayor, of no service more trying than that 
in which our naval forces were engaged on the coasts of Mexico, 
and my knowledge of their patient endurance of trial and suffer- 
ing amid the pestilent diseases of that deadly climate, fully warant 
me in pledging, that the Navy of the United States hereafter, as- 
heretofore, will promptly and faithfully respond to every call of 
Duty, of Patriotism and Honor. 

The eighth regular toast was then announced, which was, 

The 3Iilitia — It is the glory of a free country, that its volun- 
teers are all regulars, and its regulars all volunteers. 

To this, Major General B. F. Edmands replied in a speech 
which elicited much applause, and gave, in conclusion, 

Young America — In her future progress may she give us lib- 
erty and union, now and forever. 

The following toast was next given, to which ther'c was no 
response. 



63 

The Clergy — It was the highest hope and glory of our fathers 
to secure for their posterity religious as Avell as civil freedom. 
Let the clergy of our day see to it that the noble heritage thus 
transmitted to us is unimpaired. 

The following was the tenth regular sentiment. 

Tlie G-overnor^s Council — Solomon, the wisest of counsellors, 
has said — "' In counsel there is safety." Our convention seem to 
agree with him, for while they have stripped the Governor of his 
titles, they have left him his council. 

To which the Hon. John C. Park, being called upon, made the 
following response : — 

Mr. Mayor, — I can hardly understand why I am called upon 
to respond to a sentiment complimentary to His Excellency ; I am 
not a member of either his civil or military family ; but, sir, I 
shall endeavor at least, to show my fitness for the station, which 
you have assigned to me, by giving utterance to no sentiment, 
which would not meet his hearty approval. 

Mr. Mayor, I felt as I have no doubt you and all of us felt, at 
the close of the address of the first speaker of this afternoon, as if 
we were unwilling to break the spell by the sound of our own 
voices. I, for one, felt as a celebrated and somewhat enthusiastic 
European traveller felt when he first stood upon the banks of the 
Niagara, and the scene was spread before him in all its sublime 
grandeur ; his companion would have spoken, but he cried, 
^' Peace, be still, let us be silent inthe presence of such power!" 

And yet, sir, as I listened to the glowing tones in which he 
carried out and filled up the ideas hinted at by the Orator of the 
Day, and pictured in words of powerful eloquence, the future 
position of Young America, I remembered an incident which 
occurred at Worcester, in this State. When at a certain Mass 
Convention, at that town, (I will not say of what party,) platoon 
after platoon in dark masses wheeled into view and wound among 
the hills, an insane man, at the windows of the Hospital in that 
place, carried away by the scene, shouted aloud, "Attention, the 
whole universe ! By kingdoms, right wheel !" The man was not 
so crazy, after all ; he was merely indulging in a mesmeric pros- 



64 



pective view of Young America summoning the nations of the 
earth to wheel into the cokimn of Freedom ! 

Surely we live in an age of progress. But a few years since, 
the sensitive nerves of some of my friends were somewhat dis- 
turbed, when in this very hall, a gentleman I was proud to call 
my friend, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, gave as a sentiment, 
" Our country, however bounded." To-day, when Young America 
has been pictured extending from pole to pole, and from one hem- 
isphere to another, we may venture to say, " Our Country, with 
no boundaries at all ! " 

But, I rose, Sir, with another theme upon my mind. I have 
often heard it remarked, what can you find new to say on the 
Fourth of July ? Our Orator of to-day has pictured well the 
novelties of the future ; — but. Sir, let any one but turn to the 
annals of our country's struggle for Independence, and he will 
find on every page some startling incident, full of matter for elo- 
quent description, and pregnant with lessons of future good. 
Let me allude to one, now in my remembrance, and which can 
easily be applied to the present occasion. 

We have listened with glowing hearts, to-day, as the Decla- 
ration of Independence was read. But it is not the only State 
Paper of those days which deserves immortality. There was an- 
other somewhat earlier drawn. 

At the first outbreak of the struggle, when the voice of Patrick 
Henry had declared that the next breeze from the north would 
bring with it the clang of arms, the first blood of organized oppo- 
sition had been shed on Bunker Hill. The politicians of our 
countrj^ assembled at Philadelphia, at once saw the necessity of 
spreading before the nations of the world, in a clear and states- 
manlike manner, the causes which justified us in drawing the 
sword and throwing away the scabbard. This they did in a 
" Manifesto," which as a work of diplomatic excellence, equals 
any document ever written. This " Manifesto," Congress directed 
should be read at the head of the American Army, then encamped 
around Boston, which was then in a state of siege. 

The Connecticut troops, under Gen. Putnam, formed the left 
wing of the Army and occupied Prospect Hill. On a mild sum- 
mer's afternoon, they were drawn up in a hollow square on the 
bill^side which sloped towards Boston. On their left smouldered 



65 



tlie smoking ruins of Charlestown, and there lay the Hill, still red 
Avith the blood of their countrymen. Before them was the be- 
sieged town, with the pent up soldiery of foreign power, and from 
the shipping in the harbor floated the hated ensigns of royalty. 

The " Manifesto " was read, and at its close the voice of the 
Chaplain rose in prayer, high and clear amid that kneeling host ; 
at its close the banners of Connecticut were unfurled, on one was 
the motto, " Qui transtulit, sustinet." He who has brought us 
thus far yet sustains us. On the other was inscribed, " An 
appeal to Heaven !" And from that sunny hill-side the " Amen" 
which went up to Heaven, found an appalled and answering echo 
even on the throne of Britain's monarch. 

Let us apply the scene to this occasion. I congratulate you, 
Mr. Mayor, and fellow citizens, upon the presence, to-day, in this 
Hall, of so many representatives of the Army and Navy officers 
of our country. I do sincerely wish that there were more fre- 
quent opportunities for us, by such acts of civility, to testify to 
these gentlemen the estimation in which they are really held by 
their fellow citizens. "We know that in foreign lands, wherever 
the beautiful flag of our country is carried, (and indeed Sir, it is 
the most beautiful flag which floats upon the breeze,) they repre- 
sent our country. And now that there is not a sea upon the " 
whole face of the globe where American enterprise has not pene- 
trated, every where the American officer is respected and cher- 
ished as the fit representative of a nobly progressive people. 

I rejoice therefore, at the opportunity I now have, of assuring 
the gentlemen of the Army and Navy, that highly appreciated as 
they are abroad, they are equally so, at home, and that home 
is — the hearts of their countrymen. 

I give in conclusion — 

The Army and Navy — May the measures of the statesmen 
who manage our National Policy be such, that they can ever con- 
scienciously bear upon our flag the Connecticut motto, " An 
appeal to Heaven ! " 

At the close of Mr. Park's speech. Sailing Master, F. W. 
MoORES, United States Navy, rose and said : — 



66 



Mr. Mayor, — After what has been said, I cannot remain 
silent. 

The Mayor, — " We shall be pleased to hear you, sir." 

An action has been threatened against you, Sir, for calling on 
another, after the powerful effort of Mr. Everett, and if the sum 
had been settled, I have only to demand twenty to one, and the 
amount of my own claims would be established. 

But aside from that issue, and in view of the generous senti- 
ments which have fallen from the lips of my predecessor, I feel 
called upon, in behalf of the Navy, to respond. In doing this, I 
will detain you, fellow citizens, but a moment. The very kind 
remarks which have been ojBfered, have inspired me with feelings 
which call up the recollectioii of the glorious signal, thrown out by 
Nelson at Trafalgar. You are aware. Sir, that upon that event- 
ful day, at the commencement of the battle, there Avas seen 
waving at the mast head of the Admiral's ship, a flag upon which 
was inscribed the following words : — " England expects that this 
day every man will do his duty." And, Sir, I hope — I trust — 
that when the hour of trial comes, our country will proudly admit 
that we also shall have done our duty. 

The eleventh regular toast was, 

The Orator of the Bay — His rapid review of the causes and 
results of our Independence, has served to kindle anew our rev- 
erence for our fathers, and our love for our common country. 

This was responded to by Timothy BigeloW, Esq., the Orator, 
as follows : — 

Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, — I am grateful for the sentiment 
that has just been announced, and' can but regret that my strength 
will not permit me to reply to the same in some adequate manner. 
Still it is well for us to be here to-day. So many interesting 
associations, connected with the origin and progress of the Revo- 
lution are attached to this Hall, that it is impossible for Ameri- 
cans to find a more fitting place wherein to celebrate this anni- 
versary. These walls have listened to the voices of Otis and 
Adams, of Hancock, Quincy and Warren, and they have thrown 



67 



back the shouts of indignant multitudes determined to be free. 
It would seem as if those voices still lingered along these walls, 
and speak to us to-day, informing us of our responsibility and 
duty. They tell us to .preserve the principles transmitted to us, 
principles for which patriots have suffered. They remind us that 
" Eternal vigilant is the price of liberty," and, if we are faithless 
to our trust, we shall have to answer at the tribunal of history for 
having destroyed the hopes and happiness of millions. We well 
call this Hall the " Cradle of Liberty," but the cradle was rocked 
by the whirlwinds of the Revolution, and the child was the spirit 
of universal freedom. 

Our principles are finally destined to be every where triumphant. 
The time has been when the Roman Eade made the earth to 
tremble as the victor legions swept along ; but the time has come 
when the American Eagle is moving forward for the subjugation 
of the globe. Its progress is not marked by blood and devasta- 
tion, such as tracked the footsteps of an Alexander or a Gengis- 
khan, but by the spread of peaceful influences, and the triumph 
of happiness and prosperity. It brings joy in place of sorrow, 
and scatters light where darkness has prevailed. Let us look 
forward to the glad day, when the principles born in America shall 
extend throughout every nation and clime ; aye, when like the 
eagle over yonder dial plate, they shall spread their wings over 
all time, and shall dedicate every hour and moment to the service 
of liberty. 

We recall to-day with grateful interest the sufferings and sac- 
rifices of our fathers, and the trials they endured in our behalf. 
Their virtues glow with brightest colors upon the canvas of his- 
tory, outvieing the most brilliant examples ever afforded by 
Athens or Rome. Do you ask where is their monument ? Look 
around you, for you behold it in the prosperity of America to-day. 
Their names are entwined, by the hands of patriotism, with the 
amaranth of immortality, and they are written upon every beau- 
tiful hill-side and every flourishing metropolis throughout the land. 
Though hidden from sight, their virtues still continue to speak to 
us, as these flowers will yet emit their fragrance even when dark- 
ness conceals them from view. 

Permit me to Sfive, in conclusion, the followino; sentiment : — 



68 



The Fathers of the Revolution — They dedicated America to 
Liberty, and gave their country to mankind. 

. The next toast was, 

The PAST Mayors of the City of Boston — ^^assed them, but 
never cleclined them. They declined themselves. We hope they 
won't decline now. 

The Hon. JosiAn Quinct, Jr. responded in a brief and felici- 
tous speech, giving as a sentiment: 

Yankee Boodle — The true American march — proving that the 
regular step is not inconsistent with the most rapid progress. 

The next regular toast was, 

Kentucky, — Kentucky mourns her Clay, Massachusetts her 
Webster. To-day they bend together in reverence over the 
tombs of their illustrious sons. 

General Leslie Combs, of Lexington, Kentucky, responded 
to this sentiment in an eloquent manner. His speech was greatly 
applauded, and it is much to be regretted that a more ample and 
accurate sketch of the same cannot be given. 

Mr. Mayor, — I am quite unexpectedly called upon to speak 
on this occasion. As the sentiment just announced declares, 
Kentucky mourns her Clay, and Massachusetts her Webster, 
and on a day like this, the death of two such eminent statesmen is 
to be especially remembered and regretted. But no individual 
States can alone lament the loss of such men. They lived for 
their country, and " their whole country," and their death 
awaked one common feeling of sorrow in every State throughout 
the Union. 

Forty years ago I fought on the banks of the Maumee. At 
that time, no white settlements existed between the Mississippi 
and Lower Erie. Since then, Young America has advanced in a 
manner, and to an extent, to which the annals of mankind can 
afford no parallel. The old horse-teams, with which our fathers 
were familiar, have been transplanted by the railroad cars ; the 



69 



canoes and flat boats upon our great rivers have given place to 
the steamboats, which have well been denominated " floating pal- 
aces." So rapid and marvellous have been these changes, that I 
hardly dare to speak of the future ; but this at least I will say, 
that the West will yet bind the Atlantic and Pacific together, and 
the Lakes and the Gulf of JMexico will be so intimately connected 
that no disunion-spirit can ever sunder the bonds that unite them. 
The Falls of Niagara will themselves give forth the music that 
celebrates this holy alliance. 

I feel that the Union of these States is a matter of paramount 
importance. Nothing can be dearer to the heart of a patriot than 
this. I came to Boston with a view partly to look after certain 
jDroperty which I own in this neighborhood. I possess some land 
in Massachusetts, and also in the States of Virginia and Louis- 
iana. I own a portion of Bunker Hill, as well as of Lexington and 
Concord ; besides this I share a part of the plains of Yorktown, 
and of the battle-field of New Orleans. This property, fellow 
citizens, I am proud of, nor, while I live, will I relinquish one 
iota of my claim. What my fathers gave me, I will deliver unim- 
paired to my sons. 

My own father fought under the banners of the Union. I 
come myself from Lexington, a place which was named after the 
famous battle-field in your own neighborhood. About the com- 
mencement of the Revolution, a company of pioneers, moving 
westward, paused at a certain place in Kentucky, which was then 
a wilderness, and determined there to make a settlement. Just 
after their arrival, and before they had given a name to the local- 
ity, news was brought to them of the contest at Lexington, and 
they at once named their new settlement, Lexington, in honor of 
the first great battle of the Revolution. Be assured that, whenever 
the name or fame of my country is in danger, I will gladly shoul- 
der my musket, and brave every peril in her behalf. No man 
can be called a patriot, who will not willingly contend, in every 
hour of danger, for his native land. We are the freemen of 
America ; let us ever prove ourselves worthy of our noble 
ancestry ! 

The fourteenth regular sentiment, given by the Toast-Master, 
was. 



70 



Louisiana — Whilst we commemorate at the base of Bunker 
Hill the Independence to which the first battle led — we should not 
forget the consummate bravery and skill with which that Indepen- 
dence was defended in the last battle on the Banks of the 

Mississippi. 

This was replied to by Hon. J. G. Sevier, of New Orleans. 
His speech was of a high order, being patriotic and able ; but, as 
in the case of the preceding one, it is impossible to give more 
than a very imperfect sketch of the same. 

Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens, — I am proud to be here 
to-day. This hall is rendered eminently memorable by the scenes 
and occurrences of the Revolution, and every patriot must regard 
it as a great privilege to be here at this time. Your State is filled 
with places rendered illustrious in the great drama of the Ameri- 
can Revolution ; and her name is forever honorable, because she 
can boast of Faneuil Hall, of Lexington, of Concord and Bunker 
Hill. 

In that last named battle ground of our history, I feel, and 
always shall feel, a great and growing interest. Both my father's 
father, and my mother's father, fought at Bunker Hill, — and this 
glorious recollection is to me more precious than all the treasures 
of wealth or laurels of fame. A friend and near neighbor of 
mine, Mr. Touro, contributed twenty thousand dollars towards 
completing the monument on yonder memorable heights, — and he 
showed, by this generous act, how liberal and patriotic a spirit 
beats in his bosom. I claim, as my friend from Kentucky also 
claims, an ownership in all the places in Massachusetts, rendered 
illustrious in our history. The memories and trials of the past 
are dear to me, and I take part in the holy recollections which 
this hall must inspire in every American heart. The sons of 
Louisiana are interested in the soil of Bunker Hill, as the citizens 
of Massachusetts are interested in the glorious memories that in- 
vest New Orleans. 

I have an undying regard for the union of these States, and so 
should every American patriot feel, throughout the land. The 
greatness of our country has been achieved, and it can only be 
preserved, by defending, at every hazard, our Federal Union. 



71 



This result can be attained only by remaining true to the com- 
promises of the Constitution, for which your eloquent Webster 
labored so manfully and well. Adhere to those compromises, and 
the greatness of America will be transmitted from age to age ; 
forsake them, and our fathers will have both struggled and suf- 
fered in vain. 

In the name of my own State, I tender to the citizens of Boston 
the right hand of fellowship on this day of mutual remembrance. 
May the time never come when the mea of Boston and New Or- 
leans shall not glory in the same memories^ and look forward to 
the same hopes. 

The next toast was, 

Illinois — We are proud to recognize among her people the 
signs of industry, enterprise and thrift, which indicate their New 
England origin. 

Which was responded to, in a felicitous speech, by Col. S. Par- 
sons, one of the Governor's Aids, of Ilhnois, who gave, as a sen- 
timent, 

Boston, the City of the Pilgrims — The honor, intelligence, 
industry and liberality of her citizens, the ability and integrity of 
those who have administered her government, her benevolent 
institutions and her public schools, have given her an influence 
which is as extensive as the glory and renown of her immortal 
founders. 

The following toast was offered by the Mayor, and was re- 
ceived with great applause. It was immediately telegraphed to 
Portsmouth. 

Boston and Portsmouth — The electric chain of communication 
which now unites them is but a type of the living sympathy which 
bound them together in the days which " tried men's souls." 

The seventeenth regular toast was. 

The Superintendent of our Public Schools — The munificence 
of the City has amply enriched his bishopric. Though no Apos- 



72 



tolic hands may have rested upon his head, the nobleness of his 
work has consecrated him, and the hopes and affections of his 
fellow citizens have been laid heavily upon him. 

Nathan Bishop, Esq., in response, said, 

Mr. Chairman, — One of the Marshals suggested to me, a few 
moments ago, that I should be called upon to speak in behalf of 
the children in the Public Schools. 

Fortunately for me, Sir, this office has already been perform- 
ed. The children have spoken for themselves in the spirit- 
stirring songs whose melodies, still lingering in our ears, have 
mingled with the services of the day. Their voices, more inspir- 
ing than the tones of the most gifted orator, have awakened 
heart-felt joy in the listening multitude assembled in yonder 
church to commemorate this eventful day in our history. 

But I must not say more, for I would not efface, iii any degree, 
the delightful impressions which their sweet music has left upon 
us all. In closing, I offer the following sentiment : — 

The Cldldren of Boston — May the boys become wiser and 
better men than their fathers — and the girls grow up to be — 
just like their mothers. 

The eighteenth regular toast was as follows : — 

The City of Cliarlestoum — It has its historian and its monu- 
ment. — We should like to hear 3Iair (Mayor) of them. 

Hon. R. Frothingham, Jr., Mayor of Charlestown, responded 
to this sentiment in a short speech. 

The memory of Daniel Webster. 

In connection with this sentiment, which was drank standing 
and in silence, the following lines were read : — 

"A power has passed away from earth 
' To breathless nature's dark abyss, 

But when the mighty pass away, 
What is it more than this — 



73 



That man, who from his God came forth, 
To God again does now return ; 
Such ebb and flow must ever be, 
Then wherefore should we mourn." 



The next regular toast, given by Mr. Sampson, was, 

The Common Council of the City of Boston — Its line of dis- 
tinguished Presidents is still unbroken. 



Henry J. Gardner, Esq., replied, saying, that at this late hour 
of the afternoon, after the audience had been instructed and de- 
lighted by the unusual display of eloquence and talent, unusual 
even in old Faneuil Hall, and on the Fourth of July, his remarks 
■would be brief and hasty. 

He said, it was well periodically to look back to the day when 
our forefathers, here within the limits of Massachusetts, on the 
evening of the 21st December, 1630, prepared and signed the 
first pure manifesto • of equal political and social rights the world 
had ever seen. And to remember, also, their later, but if possi- 
ble more important, declaration of principles, in 1T76, which 
ranged us among the nations of the earth, on the priceless plat- 
form of individual equality. We did not realize as we should the 
foresight, daring and self denial of those men who flung to the 
breeze, in defiance of the mightiest empire of the old world, the 
broad banner of liberty and equality — a banner that is destined, 
yet, with the blessing of Heaven, to see, all the world over, kin- 
dred principles and rights crush the sceptres of despotism, and 
break the bondage of superstition and ignorance. 

But although we ought to, and justly did, i;^joice, it was still 
rejoicing accompanied with responsibilities and duties, as stern 
and real as those our fathers partook of and accomplished. It 
was our duty to cherish, extend and strengthen what they, amid 
trial, suffering and self denial, planted. They declared princi- 
ples — it is ours, to some extent, to carry them into practice ; — 
they made prophetical promises for the future, and it falls to our 
lot to redeem them. Should we fail — or even falter — the heredi- 
tary autocrats of the old world would hail it with exultant rejoic- 
ings, and constitutional liberty and the rights of humanity, like 



74 



Isaac of old, would lie bound and helpless on tlie altar of 
sacrifice. 

Mr. Gardner expressed his unwillingness longer to detain the 
assembly, and concluded bj offering as a sentiment, 

The true idea of a nation — Individual equality, guarded and 
restrained by universal education. 

Mr. Gardner then proposed, 

The Chief Marshal of the Day — Though not a martial man, 
he knows how to marshal men. 

This sentiment was responded to, in a happy manner, by 
George R. Sampson, Esq., who offered in conclusion, as a senti- 
ment, 

Young America — While rushing on, with hot haste, to the 
future, let her not forget there are lessons of wisdom in the past. 

The next regular toast was. 

The Chaplain of the Day — The voice of prayer was raised by 
our fathers in the hour of peril, let it never be silent in the period 
of our country's prosperity and greatness. 

The Rev. Joseph Cummings replied. 

The next toast was. 

The Reader of the Declaration of Independence — He is 
always a welcome guest at our civic feast, on the t^ourth of July, 
who has read to us again the immortal charter of American 
Liberty. 

This was responded to by A. 0. Allen, Esq., as follows : 

Mr. Chairman, — At this late hour, and when so much has 
been said appropriate to the occasion, and worthy of the reputa- 
tions of the distinguished gentlemen to whom we have listened 



75 

this afternoon with more than pleasure, I will not detain jou 
longer, or attempt more than merely to offer a sentiment ; and 
therefore I would give : 

The Patriots of our Revolution — Illustrious as, but more for- 
tunate than, the Hampdens and the Sidneys ; for they found what 
the latter vainly sought, by the sword the repose of liberty. 

Alderman James Whiting offered the following : 

The Union — It was secured by the sufferings of our fathers ; 
it must be preserved by the patriotism of their sons, despite the 
disunionists of the South and the fanatics of the North. 

Col. Robert Cowdin proposed : 

The Municipal Government of the City of Boston — May the 
good feeling extended to our volunteer militia by them be appre- 
ciated by their united and hearty support in sustaining the laws, 
whether acting in a civil or military capacity. 

Otis Kimball, Esq. gave : 

Independence Bay — The altar on which all differences of polit- 
ical opinion are annually laid aside, and at which renewed prom- 
ises are made to the Constitution and devotion to the Union. 

The following volunteer toasts were read : 

Tennessee — The Sixteenth Star in our Union. None shall 
question her patriotism while the name of Jackson is remembered. 

Education — Recognized by our Pilgrim Fathers as the only 
safe basis of popular liberty ; let us evince our respect for their 
memories, by an equal zeal for the dissemination of sound learn- 
ing among the people. 

Ungland-^'Next to the name and fame of our own country, 
we cherish those of England. Our mission is the same, to extend 
constitutional liberty throughout the world. 

The Constitutional Convention — 

" Some said let's have it ; others said no ; 
Some said it might do good ; others, not so." 

The City of Lynn — Its fame shall last through all {awl} time. 



76 



The following letters were received bj the Committee of Ar- 
rangements : — 

commonwealth of massachusetts. 

Executive Departaient, ) 

Council Chamber, June 21th, 1853. ] 

Gentlemen, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your obliging invitation to participate with the City Government 
of Boston in their celebration of the approaching anniversary of 
American Independence. 

I regret that the celebration of the day by the Municipal Au- 
thorities of my own city, and the paramount claim which they 
make upon my oflBcial presence among them on that occasion, 
must deprive me of the pleasure which I should otherwise derive 
from placing myself under the patriotic influences and inspiriting 
associations of the " Old South " and " Faneuil Hall." 
I am, with great respect. Gentlemen, 

Your obliged friend and fellow citizen, 

JOHN H. CLIFFORD. 

To Messrs. Benjamin Seaver, James Whiting, Peter C. Jones, 
George W. Warren, Robert Cowdin, Committee, &c. &c. 



Boston, July 1, 1853. 

Gentlemen, — I thank you for your obliging invitation for the 
4th inst. I regret extremely that it is not in my power to accept 
it, and thus to renew the pleasure which I have so often enjoyed 
in dining with the City Council in Faneuil Hall on that honored 
anniversary. 

Seventy-seven years have passed since the Declaration was 
adopted which made the Fourth of July forever memorable in the 
annals of civil liberty. Every one of those years has teemed 
with blessings to our country and to mankind, and no one can con- 
template their aggregate harvest without admiration and aston- 
ishment. 



77 



Among the most agreeable results of this lapse of time, has 
been the gradual abatement, — may I not say, the almost com- 
plete extinction, — of those feelings of bitter animosity and re- 
sentment toward the mother country, which were so naturally 
engendered by our long struggle for independence. 

It was not a iittle edifying, certainly, at your recent railroad 
jubilee, to find the reappearance of the British red coats in our 
streets, hailed and greeted with as much cordiality as if they had 
never been associated with the arbitrary measures of Lord North 
and Governor Gage. 

Our sister city of New York exhibits at this moment the not 
less striking, or less gratifying spectacle of a Board of British 
Commissioners, of the highest rank, accomplishment and science, 
coming over in her Majesty's frigate Leander, to take part in the 
inauguration of a Yankee crystal palace ! Our fathers of 1776 
would as soon have looked to see a revival of Leander swimming 
across the Hellespont. 

It may be, indeed, that the Hellespont will still prove to be 
the destination of this gallant frigate, and, in that case, I doubt 
not that many of us will be ready to say, " Good luck go with 
her." Such would certainly be the sentiment of our adventurous 
fishermen, who desire to have their lines unmolested in the Bay 
of Fundy. 

Permit me, gentlemen, to conclude this somewhat desultory 
note by proposing as a sentiment for the occasion — 

Our Country — May her only contention or rivalry with Great 
Britain hereafter be, — which shall do most towards promoting the 
progress of art and science, and which shall most effectively ad- 
vance the peace, prosperity and freedom of the hum.an family. 

Believe me, gentlemen, 

Very faithfully yours, 

EOB'T C. WINTHROP. 

Hon. B. Seaver, James Whiting, P. C. Jones, George W. 
Warren, Robert Cowdin, Committee, &c. 



78 



Boston, July 1, 1853. 

Dear Sir, — It will not be in my power to unite with the City 
Council of Boston in the approaching celebration of our national 
anniversary ; but I beg to assure you that I am not insensible to 
the honor of their invitation. 

The day itself comes full of quickening suggestions, which can 
need no prompting from me. And yet, with your permission, I 
would gladly endeavor to associate at this time one special aspira- 
tion with the general gladness. Allow me to propose the follow- 
ing toast : — 

The Railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific — Traversing a 
whole continent, and binding together two oceans, this mighty 
thoroughfare, when completed, will mark an epoch of human pro- 
gress second only to that of our Declaration of Independence. 
May the day soon come. 

BeUeve me, dear sir, 

Faithfully yours, 

CHARLES SUMNER. 

Hon. Benj. Seaver, Mayor, &c. &c. &c. 



MILITARY ESCORT. 
Under the command of Colonel Robert Cowdin. 

Co. B, Light Dragoons, .... Capt. Isaac Hull Wright. 

boston brass band. 



Co. C, Washington Artillery, 
Co. G, Bay State Artillery, 
Co. E, American Artillery, 
Co. B, Columbian Artillery, 
Co. H, Webster Artillery, . 
Co. D, Roxbury Artillery, . 
Co. A, Boston Artillery, . 



Capt. W. W. Bullock. 
Capt. M. A. McCafFerty. 
Capt. D. A. Granger. 
Capt. Thomas Cass. 
Capt. E. W. Hincks. 
Capt. I. S. Burrill. 
Oapt. Thomas H. Evans. 



rtret of <Sttl3ices 

AT THE 

OLD SOUTH CHURCH 

BEFORE THE 

saifY s © Qo El ® a Oa ®p ©©stopj, 

OK THE 

SEVENTY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY 



JULY 4th, 1853. 



I. VOLUNTARY BY THE BRASS BAND. 



II. CHANT. 

1 . Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle 1 Or who shall rest upon Thy 
holyhiin 

2. Even he that leadeth an uncorrupted life, and doeth the thing which is right, 
and speaketh the truth from his heart. 

3. He that hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbor ; 
and hath not slandered his neighbor. 

4. He that sitteth not by himself, but is lowly in his own eyes ; and maketh 
much of them that fear the Lord. 

5. He that promiseth to his neighbor, and disappointeth not, even though it 
were to his own hindrance. 

6. He that hath not given his money upon usury, nor taken reward against the 
innocent. 

7. Whoso doeth these things, shall never fall. Amen. Amen. 



III. PRAYER, 

BY REV. JOSEPH CUMMINGS. 

IV. SONG— "THE UNION." 
A song for our banner, the watchword recall, 
Which gave the Republic her station, 
" United we stand, divided we fall !" 
It made and preserved us a nation. 

The Union of lakes, the Union of lands, 
The Union of hearts, the Union of hands. 
And the Flag of our Union forever. 

What God in his infinite wisdom has joined. 
And armed with Republican thunder, 
Not all earth's despots, or fiictions combined. 
Have the power to sever or sunder. 

The Union of lakes, the Union of lands, 
The Union of hearts, the Union of hands. 
And tlic Flag of our Union forever. 




80 



V. EEADING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 

BY A. O. ALLEN, ESQ. 



VI. HYMN— "NATIONAL GRATITUDE." 

Let every heart rejoice and sing, 

Let choral anthems rise ; 
Ye rev'rend men and children, bring 

To God your sacrifice ; 
For He is good, the Lord is good. 

And kind are all his ways ; 
"With songs and honors sounding loud, 

Tlie Lord Jehovah praise. 
While the rocks and the rills, 

While the vales and the hills, 
One glorious anthem raise, 

Let each prolong the grateful song. 
And the God of our fathers pi-aise. 

He bids the sun to rise and set ; 

In heaven His power is known; 
And earth, subdued to ilim, shall yet 

Bow low before His throne ; 
For He is good, &c. 



VIL ORATION, 

BY TIMOTHY BIGELOW, ESQ. 

VIII. ANTHEM—" MIGHTY JEHOVAH." 

Mighty Jehovah ! accept our praises. 

God, our Father, O hear us in mercy ! 

Unto Thee we offer thanksgiving and praise. 

For Thy goodness and kindness to Thy people ; 

For Thy ever abounding mercies, 

We now offer Thee our thanks, God ! 

This day a nation praises Thee! 

I'raise be to Thee ! God ! 

Thanks to Thee ! thanks be to Thee, God ! 

O be joyful in God, for this day, 

Sing praises to His name, and rejoice ! 

rejoice in the birth day of Freedom ! 

Give thanks, and praise the Lord. 

O sing praises to His holy name, 

And rejoice in His mercy, 

Sing to Him with the lute and harp. 

Call upon His name, and rejoice in Him, 

With tlianksgiviug and with gladness. 

sing praises unto our Father, 

O sing and praise His holy name. 

O be joyful iu the Lord, 

Sing praises unto Him, ye nations. 

Sing, rejoice and bless His holy name, 

Sing praises to His name. 



IX. BENEDICTION. 



The Music was performed by a Choir selected from the Public Schools, under 
the direction of L. H. Southard, Esq. 



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